Colombian cuisine has found an increasingly prominent place on the U.S. dining scene, and few restaurants have pushed it forward as boldly as Elcielo Hospitality Group. Chef and founder Juan Manuel Barrientos presents an elaborate tasting menu built around Colombian ingredients, traditions and techniques, but reinterpreted through a modern lens. In 2021, Elcielo Washington, D.C., became the first-ever Colombian restaurant to earn a Michelin star, a distinction it has retained every year since. “It is one of the greatest honors of my career, but what makes me especially proud is what it represents for Colombian gastronomy,” Barrientos says.
Today, Colombian cuisine is represented at three Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide, including two from Elcielo Hospitality Group. Elcielo Miami also holds a Michelin star. For Barrientos, the recognition reflects a vision he has pursued from the start. “I wanted to do something that was not really being done with Colombian cuisine at the time. I was among the pioneers in Colombia in developing tasting-menu experiences and bringing Colombian traditions, ingredients and memories into the language of fine dining.”
Barrientos, affectionately called Juanma, grew up in Medellín during one of Colombia’s most turbulent periods. His family eventually left the country because of the violence, but he returned as a young man and began building the culinary career that would take him around the world. After training in Colombia and Argentina, he refined his skills in Europe, working with Argentine chef Iwao Komiyama and legendary Basque chef Juan Mari Arzak. At just 23, Barrientos left his successful career to open the first Elcielo restaurant in Medellín in 2007. His culinary approach combines Colombian ancestral flavors, avant-garde techniques and principles of neuroscience to create meals that engage memory, emotion and all five senses. Since then, he has been named one of Latin America’s 50 Best Chefs and received the international Chef Revelación Mundial designation.
“We take fine dining very seriously, but I don’t believe it has to be intimidating or overly formal,” he says. Elcielo restaurants offer multi-course tasting menus for guests seeking a traditional fine-dining format, along with a bistro where diners can order à la carte and discover the restaurant in a more casual setting. Elcielo’s signature “The Experience,” a 20-course tasting menu, moves through what the restaurant calls “touches” rather than courses. “The Journey” covers 13 courses, while the “Taste Me” menu consists of either two or three courses. Every format accommodates vegetarians and guests with dietary restrictions. The menu features dishes such as corn broth, lulo sorbet and the Tree of Life, a warm, cheesy flatbread made primarily with yucca. Chocotherapy, the restaurant’s dessert ritual, invites guests to wash their hands in melted chocolate before licking it from their fingers.
In 2025, the D.C. restaurant introduced Elbistró, its casual dining option, where diners can choose from a selection of appetizers, crudos, bites and small plates. Colombian flavors also appear on the cocktail menu, which includes the Chimberito with aguardiente, cachaça, soursop purée, yuzu and thyme, and the Don’t Give a Papaya with rum and mezcal. Guests can also order a frozen piña colada served inside a hollowed-out coconut, a lemongrass Old Fashioned or a New York Sour made with bourbon and red wine. Cocktail pairings are available with the tasting menu, along with a curated wine list for those who prefer wine.
Elcielo Hospitality Group now operates restaurants in Medellín, Bogotá, Miami, Washington and New York, its newest location, which opened in October 2025. For Barrientos, though, expansion is only one part of the larger vision. He wants the company to become a leading Colombian hospitality brand while holding onto the creativity and human connection at the heart of the company. The next chapter could include restaurants, hotels and other hospitality concepts that bring gastronomy together with design, culture, wellness and storytelling. Barrientos also hopes to create opportunities for Colombian talent and introduce new perspectives on Colombia to audiences worldwide. He says, “The Michelin stars are important milestones, but they are not the final destination. I want us to continue innovating and taking risks, just as we did when we began introducing Colombian traditions into tasting menus more than two decades ago.”
