Amaya Garcia
Updated Friday, April 5, 2024-08:41
This is how the Michelin-starred chef's tripe dish is made, breaking down the offal taboo
Nacho Horcajada, the new 'king' of the bees, the gildas and the bravas potatoes of the capital
The history of
La Tasquería
is summarized in a fried and candied suckling pig's head that appeared on the menu in 2016 as a temporary dish and ended up being an untouchable hit from the house of Javi Estévez (40), a chef who introduced - and established - the offal in haute cuisine. "Sacha [Hormaechea] says that it is the perfect dish because it has everything in terms of textures and flavors," says the Madrid chef sitting at one of the tables at his new location in Modesto Lafuente. "Now we don't have it on the menus, but we do have it as an extra dish that can be ordered." Sacha is right in his assessment.
It's Monday and a few minutes past 12:30 p.m.; In the restaurant's kitchen, six people are working at full capacity. In the bar area, the front-of-house team gets everything ready; The tables are already set for the midday service. All attention to detail to give the best in this new stage that started just a couple of weeks ago. "We have made a
qualitative leap in everything
; the space means working in a different way," he says with a broad smile while showing the pastry area of the premises. Bright, spacious and welcoming, the capital's most famous offal temple shines like never before.
La Tasquería is a unique dining room for many and varied reasons. It achieved the
Michelin star in 2018
to the surprise of the team. "I think the guide dared and took a step by betting on our concept." Since opening in 2015, they have created over 100 dishes. "There is no more sustainable cuisine than that made with offal," she says while some reggaeton plays in the background. "Duck tongues or rabbit kidneys would be thrown away under normal circumstances and here we cook with them." Returning to the pig heads, he buys thousands of them each year from his supplier.
The team works in the kitchen of the new Tasquería.
Being in the gastronomic
Champions
has forced him not to relax for a minute. "Every year we try to improve something." He knows that he is in a demanding league; also that his proposal is different and risky. "I think we have managed to ensure that anyone can come to La Tasquería, even those who are not passionate about offal." Of course, with few prejudices in mind and a desire to know. "I really like it when people end up putting their spoon on the plate in front of them to try." There are many diners who tell him that they "only eat offal" at his house. From Australia, from Japan, from South American countries... Half the world has sat at his table. "There are customers who have been moved remembering snacks from his childhood."
Close and cordial, Javi tries to "be another teammate" with the team, which he has cared for for years as if it were family. "I have been offered many times to grow, but
this restaurant has a very personal component
. I can't clone my people and they are the basis of everything."
She learned a good part of that philosophy (personal and professional) during her time at El Mesón de Doña Filo, a dining room located in Colmenar de Arroyo. "They were my teachers." They are the cook Julio Reoyo and Inma Torres, the soul of the room. There she fell in love with the offal and saw the potential in it. "In cooking there have been trends of everything, but no one has yet decided to do something like ours." She defends her product to the death. "For a chef, he is extremely grateful for the possibilities he offers."
TEACHERS
Trained in large kitchens, such as
Pepe Rodríguez (El Bohío)
and Pepe Vieira, where traditional cuisine shone, he trained at the Galicia School of Hospitality. "I worked in places where stew was given the importance it has, but meeting Julio was definitive." His mind began to consider opening something focused on the brains, the ear and the gizzards when
he enjoyed the offal days
that his teacher organized every year. "The suckling pig's head also has its origin here. Julio candied them and then it occurred to me to fry them."
The famous candied and fried suckling pig's head.
In the new premises it maintains the essence that elevated it in Duque de Sesto. "We have improved, yes, in flexibility," he says, something that the chefs have not always known how to manage well. "We offer three menus, but we always give the option to change dishes according to the needs and tastes of the diners." The idea is that people enjoy when they sit at the table and over the years they have learned what it takes to know how to adapt. "Deep down we have a hidden letter."
The menus range from 59 euros
for the short one (five courses) to the most gastronomic, which costs 96 euros (five bites to eat with your hands, six savory courses and two desserts). In between, the Memory menu, which includes some of the most iconic dishes from these nine years of adventure. Essential are the veal liver salad with almonds and mustard vinaigrette,
the suckling pig's ear,
the pig's trotters with artichoke and the kubak of rooster combs and squid with egg yolk and lime. The dessert, pistachio millefeuille, pastry cream and yuzu sorbet, shone on the menu in 2017. And it does so again. "We've even made desserts with offal already."
Research into the product has been the challenge that Javi has enjoyed the most in recent years. "We have been radicalizing ourselves and we have worked thoroughly on our proposal." The rabbit, the duck, the foal, the deer and the wild boar have become objects of desire at La Tasquería. "As a result of the pig's head we discovered
the possibilities of tails and tongues
." For many, just hearing the terms will put them off, but he insists that the experience is worth it. "People have come and wanted to get up from the table when they saw the menu, we have convinced them to stay to try it and they have come away delighted." The credit goes to the roommates, "who explain what we do wonderfully."
Offal entered haute cuisine with Javi Estévez.
The suppliers are another fundamental part of the history of the place. "It is essential to have regularity", a key factor to maintain the Michelin star year after year. From the beginning he allied himself with Casquerías Óscar, a benchmark in the city. "I met them in
Doña Filo
and I have continued with them." For more sophisticated products, look for brands that are dedicated exclusively to them. They buy the duck from Selectos de Castilla, which is in Palencia; the suckling pig is from Tabladillo; The rabbit is purchased from Moncada and the deer meat is from Venison. "We can order 10 kg of rabbit kidneys. The nice thing is that we give away products that were destined to go to the trash."
INDIE AND JAZZ MUSIC
A lot of indie sounds on his
Spotify list
, although from time to time he has to give in and listen to some reggaeton at the venue. Viva Sweden, Mikel Izal and Vetusta Morla are among his favorites. "I also love that it sounds jazzy. I think Janis Joplin goes very well with my cooking." She likes to go out into the living room and talk to those who sit in her dining room. In the new location, there is no shortage of a bar with three high chairs, which is also reserved, and where the experience can be enjoyed live and direct. "I think that the Michelin Guide has appreciated in these years that we have been very faithful to our proposal."
He assures that 'no' is rarely on his lips and he likes to talk to the team, although "the whirlwind of day-to-day life" does not always allow him to do it the way he would like. He continues cooking, although the management work takes up many hours and whenever he can he escapes to visit professional colleagues, be it Luis Alberto Lera, from Lera; to Begoña Rodrigo - with whom he participated in the
television reality show T
op Chef
-, from La Salita, or to Iván Cerdeño, from the two-star restaurant in Toledo. "Now I have less time because I have a four-year-old daughter, but whenever I can I take her out to eat." Because the fried suckling pig's head is suitable for all audiences.
The chef with his signature dish.
The informal option
In June 2022, Javi Estévez opened
his second location in Madrid, El Lince,
where the offal shared the spotlight with traditional snacks. Among them, a salad, a stewed potato omelet with tripe sauce, a cheek brioche with spicy mayonnaise and some cured meat croquettes that taste heavenly. "It's traditional cuisine, rich and tasty," summarizes the chef. Located at Príncipe de Vergara, 289, in the space that was once called El Lince-Casa Avelino, the Madrid chef launched himself with a more informal proposal (the
average ticket is between 40-45 euros
), in which he was surrounded by two people of his utmost confidence: the
barmaid
Nagore Arregui and Adrián Collantes, with whom he worked for six years in the kitchen of La Tasquería.
Cheek brioche from El Lince.
The spoon dishes are also undisputed protagonists: stewed lentils with vegetables, Iberian pork tongue and pickled foie gras; pochas with vegetables and peppers; and the tripe, leg and snout stew set the bar very high.
The wine list is short, but with interesting references. The cocktail one, designed by
Nagore Arregui
, who previously worked at Urrechu and Grupo Zoco, is surprising. A bloody Mary with tripe sauce?