The life of Daniel Blanco cannot be understood without the patatas bravas.
He, at only 28 years old, is already the third generation to drive Las Bravas, one of the most renowned taverns in the center of Madrid and
which since 1969 has patented the sauce made from those potatoes
.
The original and secret.
Right now, only he and his father know exactly what is in the recipe and they have no intention of telling.
There are also no options to steal it because it is pure oral tradition, there is no written record.
«In fact,
when I entered, a little year passed until he gave me the formula, I had to see myself prepared
.
First you have to learn other things, one day you see how he does it, then you give him a hand and you're on your own", says this graduate in Business Administration and Management, who after an internship in a consultancy saw that this was not what yours.
He had grown up in Las Bravas and there he was going to return.
Today, six years later, he is in charge of running this tavern at number 3 Calle Álvarez Gato.
Considering that Cat, this narrow alley and the distorting mirrors that decorate the entrance and the walls of the premises, it is not difficult to make the association.
Here, in the 1930s, was where Ramón María del Valle-Inclán
founded the grotesque and wrote part of his work.
“The broken mirrors here”, says Daniel pointing to the walls, “are the originals that my father decided to put back together in 1998 when they were broken.
They are the history of the place and the alley ».
It was at the beginning of the 50's when his grandfather, the first generation of the Blancos, began to introduce the patatas bravas in his tavern.
"He took a little while until it worked with customers."
But he succeeded because
Las Bravas have been serving potatoes for more than seven decades in their two stores in the Huertas neighborhood
and they have between 20 and 30 employees.
This story is repeated by Daniel as if he had been part of it, but the reality is that he barely knew his grandfather because he died when he was a child.
«My father has told me thousands of anecdotes and I have always been in this place.
It is the essence of our family and we are proud to have something so emblematic
for the city for all the effort behind it at the family level.
He is reminded of it by a large group of loyal customers who come several times a week for their portion of bravas.
"They tell me that I wasn't even born when they came here and they're right because my father wasn't even born," laughs Daniel, who alternates these clients with a good handful of tourists.
"
We don't work much on international tourism, put it at most 15% of our clientele
."
The strong point of this business is in national tourism, which the Covid did not allow to go either.
"We were closed between March and December 2020 because the Puerta del Sol was empty and it made no sense to have it open."
Daniel took advantage of that moment to completely reform the premises and wait for the aid to arrive, even if it was "less than promised."
"I don't want to go into politics, I don't like it, but luckily we had ERTEs because even if we had a mattress saved, we couldn't bear the cost of the entire workforce with little activity."
Was that closure considered?
"
If the restrictions had lasted longer, we would have had no choice
."
It would have been this pandemic destroying another family tradition.
But it was not.
Las Bravas will remain in the hands of Daniel, waiting for a fourth generation
that also wants to maintain a business that produces 20 liters of brava sauce every two days -about 80 a day at Christmas time-.
"My brother Pablo, who is 22, is already starting to get into this and if one day I have children and they want to, it would be an honor."
For now, it's up to him.
She put on a cap.
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