Apicius 26 (eBook)

From our point of view, it is passion, roots, and avant-garde that will ensure our restaurants continue to lead the way as one of the greatest tools for promoting and disseminating a territory. And, ultimately, a driving force for the economy, from both a local and global perspective. The passion with which our chefs defend their projects is unusual. I wish many small and medium-sized businesses had leaders who push their teams to be better every day, motivating and leading their people to achieve previously unimagined levels of self-improvement. When I speak of roots, I don't want to return to the overused concept of our local produce. It's boring, and we know it well enough. I'm talking about pride, about knowing how to tell diners visiting our restaurants what's happening in the surrounding area. About getting goosebumps listening to the adventures and efforts to obtain the best product. And I'm talking about avant-garde (not technique). So many business models have managed to adapt to the needs of the times. They are the truly creative ones... Years pass and elBulli never leaves our memory, but some of the precepts that marked that revolution are starting to blur. The emotion (of knowing oneself privileged to sit at the table of that mad genius), the taste (many times our taste buds were deflowered there), the avant-garde (...along with his brother and the three musketeers, they set the seasons), the setting (in a 'dressed up but informal' dining room), the location (in a cove that, after several unpardonable kilometers by car, calmly received the Mediterranean), and the concept (impact after impact, shock after shock). Today, we have surpassed all of the above. This is demonstrated in the 224 pages of this edition. We keep going!!!

Josep 'Pitu' Roca is one of the three 'legs' of that triple 'R' that hides so many nuances at El Celler de Can Roca. All are guided by the same beacon: excellence. Thus, Josep Roca masterfully manages the restaurant's dining room and also a wine cellar that treasures much more than great wines. What lives under each cork, and accumulates vintage after vintage, is emotion. The same emotion with which Josep speaks of wine and of all the people who, after each glass, have put all their effort into achieving something magical. The emotion that Josep Roca conveys with every syllable is an EMOTION with capital letters that goes hand in hand with deep respect and sincere humility.

Living away from the spotlight may be one of his distinguishing features. Always in his kitchen. Always working. A character marked by sincere discretion. On the rare occasions he travels, he empirically captures the gustatory essence of each environment. Atxa doesn't just visit a country, he bites into it. He doesn't taste dishes, he scans them. Capable of detecting every unfamiliar flavor, everything is recorded in his memory. Sooner or later, even years later, an overseas memory can resurface at the right moment to be the perfect complement to a distinctly Basque creation.

Excellence resides in a location in the interior of the Balearic island of Mallorca. This is Castell Son Claret, built in the 15th century, which now welcomes restless palates from every corner of the world. Chef Fernando Arellano is the main 'responsible party': he is the executive chef of this luxury hotel and masterfully commands the kitchens of Zaranda, the flagship of its gastronomic offering, which earned its second Michelin star in November 2015. From the restaurant, Arellano champions the most deeply rooted flavors in Mallorcan cuisine. A Madrileño in the heart of the Mediterranean with a cuisine that has a lot to say.

Ricard Camarena showcases his honesty and humility in the kitchen when talking about one of his most celebrated techniques: broths. He could have, he explains, planned to make a splash with them from the outset, on purpose. But it wasn't like that. He found his unique and revolutionary way of making liquid cuisine in pursuit of excellence, with flavor as the ultimate, non-negotiable principle in each and every one of his proposals. It was in this way, and only this way, that he ended up deciphering the code of flavor. Excellence was the only path by which this essential chef arrived directly at the maximum delight for the taste buds. Thus, excellence and flavor become two fundamental pillars in the Valencian's cuisine.

The XO universe has a great ally. And he doesn't work in the kitchen... Javier Arroyo manages the dining room and cellar of a unique three-Michelin-star restaurant in Spain: DiverXO. The sommelier, a true Madrileño like few others, places the restaurant at the forefront of culinary avant-garde in his field of action. His motto is to 'abduct' the diner: to lead them by the hand into the dreamlike world of extreme sensations from which, once they have entered, it will be difficult to leave. His secret is a complicity with Dabiz Muñoz by which he understands every last spark that ignites in the chef's mind.

The El Caño tide mill, the location of the new Aponiente, is establishing itself wave after wave as a central hub for a new culinary language. Ángel León, at the helm of the three-Michelin-starred restaurant, dialogues with the sea to demonstrate to the world all that this liquid mass, covering almost three-quarters of the planet's surface, still has to tell. The chef, the 'chef of the sea,' does not just limit himself to researching... He sits with the sea, listens to it, sees what others do not even dare to look at. More than an inexhaustible source of new flavors, the sea is for Ángel León a guiding light and the liquid element in which he immerses himself to be at the forefront of global culinary avant-garde.

If the word 'avant-garde' requires being at the forefront, it also implies opening new paths. With courage. Without fear of incomprehension. Diego Gallegos, a Brazilian settled in the Málaga he fell in love with, discovers a new culinary channel in every service at the Sollo restaurant. The chef works solely and exclusively with river fish. He thus champions a deeply rooted product to ennoble it. And he goes further: he sources ingredients from aquaculture. He states, far from any cliché or commonplace, that this is the only way to prevent the fish in the continental waters of the Iberian Peninsula from becoming extinct forever.

Light. That's what NOOR means in Arabic. Paco Morales radiates it by cooking from a new location. Because NOOR is much more than a restaurant... It's an immersion in the history of the Iberian Peninsula that delves into the Andalusian gastronomic legacy to offer it to diners with a renewed vision. The chef leads this culinary mission that tastes of the past from the culinary vanguard. And he does so by making a difference from a setting that couldn't be more appropriate. It's Córdoba, the ancient 'Qurtuba' of the Muslim emirate. Abd al-Rahman I, a historical figure of reference for Paco Morales, whispers countless aromas and flavors into his ear, which the chef transforms into unique dishes.

The location of the Lera restaurant could not be more fitting... The street in the small Zamoran town of Castroverde de Campos where it is located is named 'Calle de los Conquistadores Zamoranos' (Street of the Zamoran Conquerors). The chef conquers the palates of everyone who ventures into the heart of Castile and León and claims victory in the battle of taste while repeating a single rallying cry: the purpose is to feed his diners well. All of this with intensely Castilian flavors, including those of escabeches, legumes, mushrooms, and game.

Contemplating the famous Hanging Houses of the Castilian city of Cuenca will never be the same, provided one has first enjoyed the cuisine displayed by the young and brilliant Jesús Segura at Trivio. In little more than a year, the chef has won over the most demanding palates with a culinary approach that pays a sincere and affectionate tribute to the spoon. If this piece of cutlery is one of the queens of Castilian-La Mancha cuisine, it unfolds in all its splendor within the walls of Trivio under Jesús's always keen interpretation.

"What the f*ck is DSTAgE?" That's the question you can read on the t-shirt occasionally worn by Diego Guerrero, members of the restaurant's team, or even famous musicians. The phrase goes beyond the complicity and nod to the one worn by Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones to quell fan rumors. Many of those who sit at the tables of the establishment Guerrero has opened in Madrid's Malasaña neighborhood perceive that DSTAgE is more than a restaurant, but they can't quite define in what sense... What happens, menu after menu, is that one tastes difference and luxury, both understood in a very personal way. Day by day, the chef steps onto a stage that has a kitchen, a bar, and even wings, and shows himself as he is.

Is there life beyond roasted suckling pig in the Castilian city of Segovia? Of course there is. Rubén Arnanz is the standard-bearer. The young chef has hard-earned the Michelin star with which the restaurant was recognized in the 2016 edition of the guide for Spain and Portugal. Arnanz cooks, reinvents the recipes of this area of inland Spain, and introduces new and sparkling flavors from the other side of the world. And he does so without giving up anything. Vegetables, game, and cured meats are combined with several other ingredients to delight anyone who dares to go beyond what is established in a millennial city presided over by a great aqueduct.

Andreu Genestra is just over 30 years old and has already become a leading ambassador for the Mallorcan culinary imagination. The chef, born in Inca (in the interior of the island), is a master of local produce. His range extends from native breed pigs to vegetables from the area where his restaurant is located, which he obtains from his own 6,000 square meter garden. Mediterranean fish and seafood, and cured meats and meat preparations that go far beyond sobrasada, are other factors for an equation that is solved in a unique setting. The unknown is none other than ensuring that those who experience it feel the same as those who created it.