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When Nino Redruello (October 23, 1978) had to speak in public at school, his heart raced.
"I was panicking," he told him a few days ago in the La Ancha de Príncipe de Vergara room, in Madrid.
Over the years, that fear did not improve.
"On TV, I made some progress," but it was kind of a pending issue.
A couple of months ago, he was invited to give a talk on values.
"In the Guggenheim Museum and before 200 people".
He accepted bravely and prepared the intervention with the same care and detail with which he works in the kitchen.
"
I'm one of fulfilling small challenges; and this one was pending
".
For those who don't know who Nino is, some introductory notes.
Chef and businessman, he belongs to a family linked to the hospitality industry since 1919. In addition to La Ancha, Gabino and Fismuler tortillas bear his last name.
Although if there is something that everyone in Madrid knows about this family, it is the 'Armando' escalope, that fillet made with white veal that is
beaten 90 times
with an iron trellis to leave it fine, smooth and juicy.
In confinement, Nino decided to turn it into a delivery and the World Cup got messed up.
"
A month we can sell 14,000
".
It bears the name of an Argentine client who was looking for the perfect escalope and they didn't stop until they found the formula.
«My father says that every day is an inauguration.
Each service supposes an examination».
He wears jeans, an Armando t-shirt and a blazer, which provokes the occasional joke among the team.
"
Every schnitzel I make makes me happy
."
It's like a ritual that reminds you daily where you come from.
"Bread it well, see how it changes color, that it comes out perfect... It's the star dish of the house and doing it well is living up to people like my father and my uncle."
From the age of 15 he was clear that his thing was the kitchen.
"At that age I spent three months in the kitchen with my uncle."
Much of the conversation revolves around his father and his uncle.
"
The most important thing they have instilled in me has been respect
. Treating the neighbor, the supplier, the client with politeness... And everyone the same".
Constancy and honesty are also in that family backpack.
Nino's great-grandfather opened his first little tavern near the Plaza Mayor.
"It was a long corridor," he says, and they called it La Estrecha.
That's how it was until a family problem with the name made them have to look for another one and they opted for La Ancha.
His father and his uncle worked very hard until they turned the restaurant into a reference in the hospitality industry in the capital.
"
For a long time, the mayor Enrique Tierno Galván went to eat every Sunday
. Until he died, my father did not change the day of rest to Sunday. How am I going to close the day the mayor comes!", he told them.
He is very aware of the times when
at home they were "rather tight on money
. Until La Ancha grew, we did not have a better situation."
From those years, in which it was usual to find several socialist ministers eating in the restaurant, Nino has a special affection for the writer Javier Pradera.
"He helped my father a lot to make the business known. He brought a lot of people."
Pradera himself was a regular customer.
"I always had his table ready. My father left it free for him."
Nino studied at the Luis Irizar Cooking School in San Sebastián.
"
My only dream in life has been not to screw it up
".
From a young age, the level of self-demand that he imposed on himself was "brutal".
"She worked like a beast and the more she suffered the more part of the family I felt."
He had seen how his uncle and his father worked hard in the business and he wanted to be part of that effort.
He went through El Bulli as a 'stager', traveled to London to work in a Michelin star, "he spent 17 hours a day"... The years, he acknowledges, have taught him to take things a little more calmly.
"You have to work hard, but don't forget to enjoy every day."
Motivation has also learned to self-manage it.
"
Now I prefer to stay in 7 and be happier.
When he was little he hardly saw his father at home.
"
He was almost a stranger.
We only met when he closed the restaurant, on Tuesday afternoons."
Times have changed and, although the hospitality industry requires a lot of dedication, in this he would like to be different.
"I have four young children and time passes quickly."
He usually arrives by bicycle -his other great passion- to work.
«I cross Casa de Campo, Cuesta de San Vicente, Malasaña... I vary the route depending on which restaurant I go to.
It's a pass."
It's 40 minutes that help you sort ideas.
"In my family we have been fulfilling dreams, that has been our goal."
Michelin stars have never been on his roadmap.
"
That the two Anchas work well seems to me the greatest prize
".
Confessed clueless, he tries to focus more on the good things about his team and relativize the mistakes.
"I try to listen more and more."
Now he is involved in a social project that he still does not want to tell too much about.
The Guggenheim talk, by the way, was a success.
"I enjoyed it and I think that's the important thing."
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