The Uruguayan-born chef’s Estela—a Bon Appétit darling when the magazine was readable, and neighbor to celebrity favorite Emilio’s Ballato, on Houston Street—found a vocal audience early on. Ignacio Mattos, who dates the chef and tableware designer Laila Gohar, has since opened Altro Paradiso, a SoHo favorite of Chloë Sevigny’s and Mary-Kate Olsen’s; Flora, the now closed Breuer-building restaurant; Rockefeller Center’s Lodi; and Corner Bar, in Chinatown’s Nine Orchard Hotel.