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Zalacaín

was the first

Spanish

restaurant

to achieve

three Michelin stars

, a gastronomic reference and culinary temple of the times of the Transition, but the economic "tsunami" derived from

Covid-19

has

swept

it away after

almost 50 years of history

.

It closed, like the rest of the hotel business, during the state of alarm;

It tried to survive with the food delivery service

, but it never reopened and finally the property, the La Finca business group, has decided to request

bankruptcy

and go directly to liquidation, company sources have confirmed this Thursday to Efe.

"It is a very hard 'tsunami', we still do not believe it,"

says Carmen González, who has been his last head of the room and the first who worked as such in a restaurant that, she says, "will never fall into oblivion and it

will

always

be part of gastronomic history

, "so she feels" very lucky "to have been a participant.

The definitive closure has been a "very thoughtful decision on the part of the property, after contemplating a thousand possible scenarios."

A return to activity in September was ruled out and it was planned to open at Christmas, but "the hotel industry penalizes for days" and keeping it closed indefinitely

was "financially unsustainable

.

"

As Director of Operations for Grupo Zalacaín, made up of the restaurant and an event space, Carmen González laments the "injustice" of a closure that

"is not due to mismanagement" but "due to force majeure"

and fears that "this tunnel is even darker "for the hospitality industry.

"But what hurts me the most is the human factor; the

more than 50 workers

of the Zalacaín Group have been its best ambassadors, they have formed a wonderful team," acknowledges the Valencian, who joined in 2017 after a profound reform in the mythical restaurant .

For them and for the survival of the group, the

food

delivery service was started

, but he admits that it did not work.

"The hallmark of Zalacaín -one of the few restaurants where a jacket was still required- was the experience that was lived in it, the affection that the staff gave to the diner and at home it was not the same."

"The clients wanted to return, they told us, but the virus has not left us

,

" he

laments.

They are not the only

victims.

In San Sebastián, after almost 15 years, A Fuego Negro, a revolutionary of the

pintxo

culture, has finally drawn the blind

;

in Barcelona Sergi de Meià or Monvínic;

in Seville the classic Becerra Restaurant;

in Logroño The cuisine of Ramón and La Parrilla Riojana, and in Madrid the Michelin stars Punto MX and 99 Sushi Ko, to name just a few examples.

But with the case of Zalacaín, which owes its name to a character from Pío Baroja, a good part of our history is gone.

Founded by

Jesús María Oyarbide and Consuelo Apalategui

in 1973, it

hosted from meals and meetings of the first governments of democracy to bank mergers

, in addition to having kings, national and international presidents, Nobel laureates, athletes and artists as diners and being supplier of the Royal House.

It achieved the highest distinction in the

Michelin Guide

in 1987, being the first restaurant in Spain to do so, then with Benjamin Urdiaín as head chef, and dishes such as hake steamed with basil or prickly pear sorbet, its uniquely designed tableware , the silver cutlery, an impressive wine cellar and the exquisite treatment as a flag.

The retirements of the inaugural trio formed by Urdiaín in the kitchen, Custodio López Zamarra at the head of the winery and José Jiménez Blas as director of the restaurant;

The sale by Oyarbide to a good client,

Luis García Cereceda

, after whose death the La Finca Group took over, chaired by

Susana García Cerceda

, changed the trajectory of this historic house, although not its level of excellence.

Close Zalacaín

, leaving memorable dishes such as sea bass to the two wines, stuffed pig trotters, steak tartare with soufflé potatoes or Don Pío boucaro.

What other crises could not, the coronavirus has achieved.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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