Arts & Entertainment
A Place at the Table: How a Buenos Aires Restaurant Transforms the Lives of Its Neurodivergent Employees
by Kate Wunderlich
This article is part of a reporting project from students at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism on stories from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This article is part of a reporting project from students at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism on stories from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Located in the Palermo neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Alamesa is a restaurant designed to employ neurodivergent individuals, like those with autism or Down syndrome.
The restaurant celebrated its first anniversary in March 2025.
Restaurant owner Dr. Fernando Polack developed the concept of a safe, stable and stress-free workplace for his daughter, Julia, who has autism.
He wanted to provide consistent meaningful employment for her and others like her who often struggle to keep steady jobs and maintain an independent lifestyle in Argentina.
Now, as one of the only restaurants to offer employment for neurodivergent individuals, Polack and Executive Director Sebastián Wainstein, have received thousands of applications from people looking for work.
At Alamesa, they use a language that only restaurant employees can understand because many of them cannot read a menu or memorize an order. Each customer is seated at a placemat with a letter on it, which is their individual identifying factor.
On the table, they’ll find a paper with each letter listed under the course headings: platos principales, bebidas and postres. Each diner makes a selection from the menu and jots down their order in the corresponding slots on the form.
In the kitchen, each dish on the menu corresponds with a color. For example, the salmon and all of its sides and fixings are located in blue bins. When the kitchen staff sees an order for salmon, they know to follow the preparation for everything in the blue containers.
Once the meal is prepared, a staff member places it into a rolling cart that has four drawers: one for each letter that corresponds with the diners at a table. The meal ordered by person “A” is placed in the “A” compartment and rolled to the table to be served.
Alamesa in Buenos Aires is a restaurant designed to employ neurodivergent individuals. (Kate Wunderlich / Medill)
Alamesa’s kitchen does not have sharp knives and open flames to ensure a calm workplace for staff. The ingredients needed for each dish come pre-cut. For cooking, employees operate specialized ovens that use hot air and steam.
These accommodations are meant to foster a stress-free kitchen environment.
With the help of a few neurotypical staff members, like in-house psychologist Rocio Gomez Leon and Alamesa Staff Director Maria Francisca Widela, the sponsorship of organizations around Argentina, and the patrons who come to dine at the restaurant, Alamesa provides meaningful, necessary employment for neurodivergent individuals throughout Buenos Aires and surrounding areas.
