How Juanma and J Balvin Are Taking Colombia to the Table And Putting it on a Global Culinary Stage

Photo Credit: Philip Friedman

When Michelin-starred chef Juan Manuel “Juanma” Barrientos and global superstar J Balvin reunited after 15 years of friendship, they didn’t just open a restaurant — they created a movement. Inside the partnership redefining what Colombian excellence looks like on the world stage.

BY Laura Schreffler

PHOTOGRAPHY Philip Friedman

SHOT ON LOCATION AT Elcielo New York

The stars on the Rolls-Royce ceiling are fixed, but the man beneath them has never been. J Balvin — born José Álvaro Osorio Balvín in Medellín, Colombia — sits in a manufactured cosmos, moving through Manhattan after another visit to Elcielo New York. It’s his sixth time at the restaurant this week. Not bad for someone who could easily write a check and disappear.

“People cannot see this from the outside,” he says of the starlit ceiling, his voice carrying that particular mix of gratitude and groundedness that defines him. “It’s so good. It’s my own world.” But the truth is, Balvin has never been interested in private worlds. Everything he touches — from his thirty-five billion streams and multiple Billboard Latin Music Awards to his latest venture into fine dining — has been about opening doors, not closing them.

Three thousand miles south, in a different kind of constellation, Juan Manuel “Juanma” Barrientos has been charting his own impossible course. The Michelin-starred chef earned the first star ever awarded to a Colombian restaurant in 2021 with Elcielo Washington D.C., then did it again in Miami a year later. Where Balvin conquered global pop by bringing reggaeton and Latin culture to mainstream audiences worldwide, Barrientos has been waging a parallel campaign in fine dining — proving that Colombian cuisine deserves the same reverence as Japanese, French, or Italian.

They met seventeen years ago, before either had left Medellín, when reggaeton wasn’t even played in Bogotá and Barrientos was still learning his craft. Two dreamers from the same city, watching their careers grow in tandem, developing what Barrientos describes as “a mutual admiration, friendship.” They stayed in touch through the years of ascent — Balvin becoming one of the most streamed artists on the planet, Barrientos building his Elcielo empire across Colombia and into the United States.

But it wasn’t until last December, when they finally signed papers to become partners, that their parallel trajectories converged into something tangible. Something that would test both men in ways their individual successes never had. Something that would become Elcielo New York.

“I always wanted to work with Juan Manuel,” Balvin reflects, “but he was growing up as a chef and as a businessman, and I was focused on my career also.” The timing had to be right. “Once I heard he was coming to New York — but I live here — I knew this was it.”

For Barrientos, the decision to bring Balvin into the partnership was about more than celebrity or capital. “Jose is a New Yorker,” he explains. “He’s lived here for 10, 12 years. His son was born here and goes to school here. For me, Jose opened the doors of New York.” He pauses, choosing his words carefully. “I don’t know anybody in New York. I have a couple of friends, but Jose — for me, it’s like an homage to thank him for believing in me.”

Photo Credit: Philip Friedman

What they’re building together represents something larger than either man’s individual achievements. Where celebrity restaurant partnerships often amount to little more than a name on a door and an occasional photo op, Balvin has thrown himself into Elcielo New York with the same obsessive discipline that made him a global phenomenon.

“He goes to the restaurant five times a week, sometimes more than he goes to the studio,” Barrientos shares, still sounding somewhat amazed by this fact. “He’s very passionate. He’s not a silent partner. He is learning — he wants to know how much a waiter earns, how much food costs, and what is the rent. He’s a very smart guy and very disciplined in learning.”

Balvin confirms this with characteristic understatement: “I was using it kind of like another office.” Since the soft launch, the restaurant has become his second home, a place where he can apply the same principles that built his music empire to an entirely different domain. “I love everything that is hospitality,” he explains. “Our career is always around hotels and traveling around the world and going to different restaurants, getting to know different cultures. So I definitely know when it comes to hospitality, how important it is to have great service. And that’s why I want to apply it in the restaurant and in the whole group.”

The vision they share is ambitious in scope but patient in execution. “I have a saying,” Barrientos offers. “It’s called macro

patience, micro speed.” Both men think in decades, not quarters. They see hotel chains, global expansion, a hospitality empire that rivals Nobu Matsuhisa and Robert De Niro’s legendary partnership. “That’s one of the biggest dreams,” Balvin says, invoking those exact names, “to be like what Nobu has done.”

But right now, in this moment, their entire focus narrows to a single point: making Elcielo New York exceptional. “The official opening was last Saturday,” Barrientos notes. “So basically, in two days, it’s our first official week. We start checking the strengths we have, the weaknesses we have. Every day we start talking about those points. I ask my friends to come to the restaurant, people come and I ask them how they feel, what is their advice. We’re totally open about everything.”

Photo Credit: Philip Friedman

This obsession with perfection, with getting every detail right, is where their two working styles merge into something singular. Balvin has built his career on taking risks — “I was born taking risks since I was a kid,” he says — while Barrientos has spent years mastering the technical and creative demands of fine dining. Together, they’ve created something that bridges artistry and hospitality, spectacle and substance.

“More than a strategy is focusing on making sure that every client goes out happy,” Barrientos explains, and it’s clear this philosophy comes from hard-won experience. “I have been broke three times. I opened [the original] Elcielo in 2007, I lost my house twice, been broke, but I never closed [the restaurant] even when I had no money.” Those dark periods taught him something essential: “The only thing I focused on was that the one or two clients that came at night — we were going to lose money, it was more expensive to open than leave it closed — that they were absolutely happy and they felt that we were grateful that they were there. That’s the only way we passed those dark moments.”

This resilience, this ability to maintain standards even when everything is falling apart, resonates deeply with Balvin’s own journey. “The odds of being around the world making music were not good,” he reflects on his own beginnings. “It was pretty risky.” Coming from Medellín, from Colombia — a country still fighting to overcome decades of stigma — success at their level required more than talent. It required an almost irrational belief that the impossible was simply a matter of time and effort.

Their partnership manifests in unexpected ways. There’s the cocktail, for instance — Balvin’s signature drink that Barrientos spent weeks perfecting after observing his friend’s post-concert ritual during a California tour. “Jose is so disciplined,” Barrientos marvels. “He arrives six hours prior to the concert, works out, meditates, takes green juices, nobody gets into the green room. He even has a hyperbaric chamber portable. He’s in a very zen state and then he goes and gets tons of energy in the concert.”

After shows, Balvin would stay in his green room for hours, coming down from the performance high, drinking one or two vodka-pineapples while his system recalibrated. “I told him, ‘What’s your favorite cocktail?’ and he says, ‘No no, I love pineapple and vodka.'” Barrientos sat down with his liquids team — chefs dedicated solely to creating drinks with cooking techniques — and they went to work.

What emerged was pure theater: a macerated vodka-pineapple clarified into translucent liquid, fortified with a vitamin that glows under blacklight, served in a wooden box that opens to reveal concert lights, neon accents, tiny Lego figures of both men, and the sound of Balvin’s music. “I wanted to do like an homage,” Barrientos explains simply.

The restaurant itself reflects both men’s aesthetics — Balvin’s minimalist sensibility evident in the wood and wabi-sabi design, the triple-height ceilings and floods of natural light he insisted upon. “I really love — I think always, for me, less is more,” Balvin explains. “A lot of people look at Elcielo New York’s beautiful restaurants, but they’re inside and it’s dark. Personally, I love restaurants with a lot of light where I can see the people and can see what I’m eating.”

Photo Credit: Philip Friedman

It’s a revealing preference, this desire for brightness over darkness, for seeing and being seen. “I like brightness a lot. I like light,” he confirms, and you can hear the metaphor extending beyond interior design into a philosophy of life. “All these things come and go,” he says of material success, “but I think the fact that I’m looking for my internal peace and being a good dad and a good person gives me more peace than the toys. But it’s definitely good to have them know that you work really hard.”

Barrientos sees this quality in his partner — the ability to maintain perspective even while operating at the highest levels. “I really admire him so much as a human being,” he says. “Behind the artist that’s way way up — not because he’s not great, but the human being behind J Balvin is a really great disciplined human being.”

That discipline extends to how Balvin approaches new challenges. While he’s been remarkably candid about mental health — “We always struggle with our mental health,” he shares openly, “the fact that I’m medicated helps me more” — he’s also developed systems for managing the pressure. Healthy lifestyle. Exercise. Good people. Meditation. And, bizarrely, horror movies. “People don’t know that I watch horror movies to sleep,” he reveals, sounding slightly delighted by this quirk. Most recently: The Conjuring. “I don’t let that energy come to me — I just let it pass. I’m having fun.”

At forty, Balvin describes experiencing a fundamental shift in perspective. “Since I turned 40, I’m watching life in a different way,” he explains. “Things that used to matter and make a lot of noise in my mind don’t bother me the same way.” This isn’t a planned transformation but something that simply emerged. “It just feels like something changed in me, and I love it. It’s definitely more peaceful. I have a little more wisdom. I’m more mentally stable and it makes things easier. More emotional intelligence.”

This emotional intelligence shows up in his commitment to authenticity, especially around fatherhood. “I think of my kid — I just want to be the best I can,” he says. “I’m being honest about where I am and not showing myself as a hero.” He goes further: “I don’t want to be seen as the perfect dad because I’m not. That puts a lot of pressure on you. I’m just trying to do my best. I don’t want to carry that pressure on my shoulders because I make mistakes every time. And I don’t like that pressure because then you’re not going to be real about what you’re doing — it has to come from your heart.”

Barrientos brings his own hard-won wisdom to the partnership. Beyond his culinary achievements — being recognized as the youngest chef on Latin America’s 50 Best list for three consecutive years, speaking at the World Entrepreneurship Summit at President Obama’s invitation, earning those historic Michelin stars — he’s built something even more meaningful: The Elcielo Foundation, which has provided culinary training to ex-guerrillas, soldiers wounded in combat, indigenous people and victims of violence since 2008.

“When people tell me what do you feel when you earn a star or recognition, I say I don’t do it for the food, I don’t do it for the gastronomy,” Barrientos explains, his voice carrying real emotion. “I do it to give a message to all the Colombians that we are great, that working together — because I didn’t earn it alone, I worked with 500 people at Elcielo — working together, we can do amazing things, that we can dream of and we can be proud of being Colombians.”

This is the true convergence point of their partnership: both men using their platforms not for personal glory but for cultural elevation. “Whatever I do,” Balvin says, “whether it’s a fashion collab, a sneaker collab, movies — we always want to elevate our culture as Latinos, that we have great taste also as the rest of the world.”

The restaurant becomes, in this context, more than a business venture. It’s a physical manifestation of their shared mission. When Barrientos talks about his goal for diners — “I want one thing before they get out of the building: I want them to book a trip to Colombia” — Balvin nods in recognition. This is exactly the impulse that drives his music, his fashion collaborations, everything he touches. Make people curious. Shift the narrative. Prove what he’s always known: that Colombia has always had it, has always been world-class, has always deserved this recognition.

Photo Credit: Elcielo New York Photo Credit: Elcielo New York Photo Credit: Elcielo New York

Photo Credit: Elcielo New York

“In Colombia, we love to celebrate,” Barrientos explains. “We have 17 holidays. We’re the second country in the world with holidays. We do a party for everything, anything, everybody. Everything becomes a party or celebration. So coming to Colombia is coming to celebrate life.” But there’s another side to this celebratory spirit: “We are extremely resilient. I haven’t seen a culture that’s more resilient than Colombians for what we have lived. We have lost more than 400,000 people in war in the last 50 years.”

This duality — celebration born of resilience, joy earned through struggle — defines both men’s approach to their work. They haven’t forgotten where they came from or what it took to get here. Balvin talks about the music business with the easy acceptance of someone who has learned to live with failure: “That’s every day. So many times you think ‘that’s the one,’ and then it’s not. But you get used to it, and then you just let things flow.”

Barrientos has learned similar lessons through his three bankruptcies, through building something from nothing multiple times. “I know where I’m going. I am never lost,” he says with quiet confidence. “I had many problems getting there, of course, but I always knew where my North was.”

Their complementary strengths create something neither could build alone. Balvin brings global recognition, cultural cachet, and an understanding of how to build and maintain a brand at the highest level. Barrientos brings culinary genius, hospitality expertise, and operational knowledge to actually run a Michelin-caliber restaurant. Together, they’re building what Barrientos calls “a travel agency promoting Colombia.”

The opening of Elcielo New York represents their first major test, but both men are thinking far beyond. Balvin envisions hotel chains, multiple locations, and a global footprint. Barrientos dreams of earning a Michelin star here, expanding the Elcielo philosophy to new markets, perhaps one day opening in Tokyo. “Hopefully one day I’ll open Elcielo there,” he says, “but there’s no city like New York for food, so right now, that’s my focus.”

This focus — this ability to hold a vast vision while remaining obsessively present — defines their partnership. They know where they’re going, but they’re not rushing to get there. Do the work now. Perfect the details. Make every guest’s experience exceptional. The empire will come.

For Balvin, the restaurant work feeds something his music career can’t quite satisfy. “Just being in the music business gets boring,” he admits. “It’s the system you’ve already been in for so many years. You want to meet new people, learn more about different people, and different points of view. I just don’t like to be on the same team.”

Photo Credit: Elcielo New York Photo Credit: Elcielo New York

Photo Credit: Elcielo New York

He’s expanding into acting — “I’m learning, and these actors are out of this world” — running his Beta Team design studio in Italy that creates everything from motorcycles to socks, constantly investing in new ventures. “I’m curious and I’m having fun,” he explains simply. “When it comes to work, I really want to enjoy it.”

Barrientos sees this restless creativity as essential to their partnership’s success. Picture them together in the restaurant after service, Balvin having arrived hours before closing as he often does, reviewing the night with Barrientos and the team. They’re speaking Spanish, using the Colombian curse words that have become cocktail names — chingaburrito, others too profane to print — laughing at the delight of English-speaking guests innocently ordering drinks with names they don’t understand.

There’s the wooden box being carried to a table, about to open and transform into a concert. There’s the edible coffee cup — Colombian chocolate and coffee formed into a pretzel-topped vessel that traces the journey from Medellín to New York. There’s the small arepa with smoked butter honoring their city. Every dish tells a story. Every story is connected to Colombia.

In this moment, you can see what they’re building — not just a restaurant but a cultural embassy. A place where Colombian excellence exists at the same level as any cuisine in the world. Where the servers explain brewing methods and the bartenders use twenty different cooking techniques to create liquids that defy expectation. Where the music plays, the lights glow, and for three hours, guests experience what it means to be Colombian: resilient, celebratory, endlessly creative.

“Time” is the greatest luxury, Balvin says when asked. “It goes so fast that I regret not enjoying it even more.” For someone whose time is fractured into a thousand obligations, the restaurant represents something rare: a place where he can be fully present, learning something new, building something that will outlast him.

If he could live anonymously for a year, what would he do? “I’d be more outside,” he says. “I’d go to those places when I started — being in the corner talking with my friends, in the clubs and bars chilling.” His fame — his “friend quote marks” as he calls it — opens doors while closing others, a companion he’s learned to manage but can never quite shake.

Barrientos understands this in his own way. His first Michelin star brought recognition but also pressure, expectations, the weight of representation. “Colombia had many rough times, especially with stigma,” he notes. “We had a war for 60 years.” Every success becomes freighted with meaning beyond the achievement itself — every star, every positive review, every guest who walks out happy and books a trip to Medellín.

Photo Credit: Philip FriedmanLooking ahead twenty years, Balvin’s vision for his legacy centers on possibility. “I think dreams come true — but maybe don’t talk about dreams, it’s more like your vision,” he says carefully. “I just want to take a little bit of the romantic side of dreams and make it like, your vision can definitely be accomplished as long as you’re patient and humble, that not everything is at the time you want it.”

It’s a philosophy both men share: do the work, release attachment to outcomes, trust the process. “Basically, everything is out of our hands,” Balvin continues. “We just try to do the best we can. But the result of those dreams or the end of the mission — it’s not always on us.”

Barrientos puts it more simply: “The ultimate strategy in hospitality is the experience of the client. There is no other strategy other than you focusing on making the client feel that you are giving the best of your energy to them.”

On a recent afternoon, Balvin was doing backflips on a trampoline, feeling like a kid again, posting videos to Instagram that show a man who has achieved everything still finding joy in simple movement. That same day, Barrientos was in the kitchen perfecting a new dish, adjusting, tasting, thinking about the story he wanted to tell through flavors and techniques.

Tomorrow, Balvin will drive through Manhattan in his Rolls-Royce, stars overhead, heading to the restaurant for the sixth or seventh time this week. Barrientos will arrive early, check everything twice, and make sure his team understands that every detail matters. They’ll sit together, two men from Medellín who have conquered their respective worlds, and talk about what’s next — not the distant future with its hotels and global expansion, but tonight’s service, this week’s guests, the immediate work of perfection.

The shooting stars on the Rolls-Royce ceiling slip past, artificial and fixed. But the ones these two men are creating — through partnership, through persistence, through their absolute commitment to elevating Colombian culture — those are impossible to ignore. Those are the stars that light the way home for everyone who comes after them, who dreams of making the impossible real.

With Elcielo New York, in this restaurant that means “the sky,” they’re proving something essential: that two people from the same city, walking parallel paths toward excellence, can converge into something greater than either could build alone. That Colombian culture doesn’t need permission or validation — it just needs the platform. That when you combine world-class artistry with world-class hospitality, when you lead with excellence and authenticity, when you stay true to where you came from while reaching for what’s possible, the sky isn’t the limit.

It’s just the beginning.

Photo Credit: Philip Friedman