I've never met Mallmann but I've read numerous interviews with him and articles about him, and I've watched him on the Gourmet Channel in Spanish several times.  He does seem like the kind of guy you'd like to spend time with, and he's obviously not at all pretentious -- completely self-deprecating would come closer.  His place in Garzon is very, very pleasant, and the place he had for three decades in Jose Ignacio was legendary.  All that said, I must add that one has to be very careful when he is not on scene to oversee the cooking.  I had that chicken cooked in salt one day at Garzon and it was dry as dust -- but a lot more expensive!

That's a very good point. We shouldn't get TOO soft-focus about Mallmann. His restaurants are thumpingly expensively. Last time I checked, the three course set menu in Patagonia Sur was priced at 200 pesos -- without wine. That's 70 US dollars a head. He told me a good story about Los Negros (the legendary place in Jose Ignacio PuntaLugano alluded to). One of his tricks was to sit at table close to the entrance, sucking on a cigar while carving a leg of pata negra ham that he'd imported from Spain. Without fail, everyone entering the place would ask him what he was carving. You don't want to know, Mallmann would reply. No, we really do want to know, the guests would ask. Ok, I'll tell you, Mallmann would say, but you'll regret asking. It's pata negra ham -- a truly exquisite bit of charcuterie but immorally expensive. You'll never be able to afford it. And, of course, everyone ordered it.