Pueblo Garzón, a pint-size village tucked within the farmlands of southeastern Uruguay, was all but abandoned after its train station closed half a century ago. So when the Argentine chef Francis Mallmann opened a five-room hotel and restaurant there in 2003, a few skeptical eyebrows were raised. But once the wood-grilling expert persuaded his European and American friends to make the trip inland — Garzón is about 40 miles northeast of Punta del Este, the glamorous seaside resort — word began to spread about the town’s old-time charms: gauchos riding on horseback along tidy gravel streets, residents greeting one another by name, and children playing in a flower-filled central plaza. Now Mr. Mallmann has company. Along with the arrival of travelers in search of epicurean fare came a smattering of new restaurants, boutiques and high-end establishments, including a winery, bringing new life into this quiet corner of the Uruguayan countryside.
