We open a new section in pintxos.es with June Yamaguchi. We are going to ask gastronomy-related people to choose their favorite pintxos from our list, and we will accompany them on that route, to know about the reason for their selection … while they taste them!
June Yamaguchi is already almost more local than Japanese. She was born in Hiroshima, but she has stayed in San Sebastian for 20 years. She has a lot to do with the growing number of Japanese tourists on our streets: Japan is the 9th country of origin of tourists visiting San Sebastián. June is tour guide, gastronomic contentes translator, press coordinator, and so on. All in all, she’s the key figure linking both cultures, through its project, Vascu Bishoku Club.
She loves pintxos and our bar culture, and she didn’t hesitate to accept our invitation. She did not think twice to choose 4 pintxos among the 99 best selection by the Michelin-starred chefs in Gipuzkoa. Specially because she wanted to do the route in the Center district of the city, his favorite area for eating pintxos.
She will drive us to San Marcial Bar and the legendary Gavilla pintxo
If you walk across Pescadería Street any morning, and see a bunch of people standing in line outside a closed blind, you may know that they are not buying tickets for a Rolling Stones show; they are waiting to be one of the few lucky ones that will taste the omelette potato from Nestor bar this day.
The potato omelette is a classic of our bars, but not all are the same. And our jury of Michelin-starred chefs know this well. Among the 99 best pintxos of Donostia / San Sebastián, they have included the potato omelette of the Néstor bar. This is a small place with a reduced offer, but it shines with its own light because of the quality of the product used there. Néstor Morais has been raising the blind of this bar for almost 40 years, and who knows how much longer will he continue doing it, because he is already retired. But yes, he remains active. Anyway, you should not delay your visit to this this landmark too much.
Néstor, your venue will be 40 next year: What assessment do you have?
A very good balance. Mind you, there have been very hard times, but people don’t remember anymore. Now they complain about the huge growth of tourist, and that you cannot walk. When you couldn’t walk it was when they hit you. Sometimes hit with a stone, or knocked by a truncheon, so no kidding. We have lived many days like that. Months, and years. In those days, I survived because people knew me well, and once fighting was over, they came to have a coffee or a night sip. But there were days on which we could not do anything. Anyway, all this happened many years ago, and now all the thing is up. The city is lovely, and it has everything. Prices? Accommodation can be expensive, but if you are used to travel, you know that nothing comes for free anywhere. You must pay for quality, but here you have a lot of very good options for dinner.
The offer in Nestor, in comparison with other venues, is limited.
You are right. Omelette: one in the morning, and another in the afternoon. You get 16 pintxos of each one. There are times when I come to open the place, around 10:30, that there are already people waiting, although we do not register them in the waiting list until noon. We serve the omelette at 1 pm. Until last year, that was my wife, Pilar Senra Lizarazu, who was in charge of cooking the omelettes, but she had a seizure and left cooking. Once I have made the omelette, I begin preparing tomatoes, peppers and steaks. We also make very tasty Gildas, with Nardin branded anchovies, but really not many. And Iberian pork cold meats; that’s all we have.
The expectation to eat your potato omelette is very striking: few venues will have people standing in line in the outside, even two hours before they can consume the pintxo! And it may happen that there some of those people doesn’t even taste the pintxo!
At the beginning, my wife made an omelette, then another, and another … but when the turmoil exploded, we decided that we were only going to do one at noon, and another in the afternoon. That’s when we started adding people to a list, to ensure that the first ones who asked for it were those who ate it. So we served up pintxoa to those who were in the list. On some occasions, we have call someone: John!, someone has answered “I´m here”, and then it has turn out that the listed was another John.
Someone could say that the whole thing about one omelette, the roster…is nothing but a marketing strategy!
We have done it forced by circumstances.
What is the secret of your potato omelette?
Fry the potato with the onion and the peppers, use 14 eggs per tortilla, and get your groove and all your skill on it. We have found our ground, and we get it juicy inside.
How did you get the news that all the Michelin-starred chefs in Gipuzkoa included your omelette among the 99 best pintxos in San Sebastián?
The fact that these people with the highest gastronomic level do recognize our pintxo, it is an honor. There is a lot of venues that are making more of the same, but there are also places that really do a good job, and being in this list recognizes their work.
As we said, Nestor has a limited offer, but its supported by a very good product: Is that the secret of your success?
Trabajamos con el carnicero de esta misma calle, Jon, de la carnicería Asensio, a 20 metros del bar. Con las txuletasWe work with a butcher shop located in this same street. Jon, of Asensio butcher shop, at 20 meters from the venue. We started preparing Txuletas steaks) 20 years ago. In fact I started cooking only one! Every Friday night, table 19 was booked for the Orfeon Donostiarra, a famous local choir. They came after rehearsing and asked me what was the menu. I offered them tomatoes, cold meats…and I said, well, I also have a Txuleta…They ordered two more for the next Friday, so I took two for them and two for ourselves. But other customers saw them dining, and ordered for them. Foru more next week, and things kept growing up…So we started offering txuleta in the menu. Later, the Orfeon stopped coming, since some of them went living outside the city.. and they couldn’t afford drink and drive.
The txuleta, broiled.
Yes, grilled. Our grill, a Repagas, is 39, but take care of it greatly.
And how do you get that fine tomato salad throughout the year?
When we started putting tomato salad, 35 years ago it was not a popular dish here in the Basque Country. They said that it was not “food for Basques”, it had a bad reputation. It was novelty, and some even used to make fun of it. Look now: its a delicacy for all the people in the Basque Country. I buy the tomatoes from the greengrocer in this street. Aitor, from Ekotolosa, a great guy. Now we are getting it in Getaria, from Patxi. He is still growing them at the greenhouse, but soon he will nuurert them outdoors. But I always buy them from Aitor, because he goes everyday to the wholesale market to find the best providers. I know I’m paying a little more, but this way I secure my supply anytime in the year.
Having suppliers 20 meters away, it’s a luxury!
I have even the key to the butcher shop, because our venue is very small, and in our fridge I only can stock some tomatoes and peppers for the weekend. So the butcher leaves more or less that ones we are going to use, and we keep bringing them on request. What if we run out of txuletas? well, I go and cut it myself. He is a great guy.
You only have two tables, numbered 19 and 15: Do they have any reason to be those numbers?
19th is for the Orfeón. There was a man from Madrid, Manolo González Calvet, nice guy, who sang in the Orfeón, but only came to San Sebastián for the last rehearsals. One day he came with some boys from a choir from Madrid, and asked: “Nestor, could we dinner tonight?” And I told him: “sit down in the 19th”. The kids went right to the backside, reaching the bathrooms, not knowing that there was only one table in all the bar, and this was a mess. The next time Manolo came to the venue, he brought me a gift from those boys, a sign that said”Table No. 19″, and so the name remained. And we have a folding table that we named the 15th, just to maintain the joke.
Also, you won’t find many more places where people eats Txuleta standing up!
It´s somehow exciting! Sometimes we have up to 14 reservations. We divide the venue by areas, and put the tables on the street, straining the venue! Sometimes we have to close the bookings justa at 10:30 am. There’s only one guy working at the kitchen, myself in the morning and Igor in the afternoon. We have a great team, with Sebas, Horacio, Gonzalo, Tomás and my brother Tito, who has been with us for 34 years. Anyway, I have to say that I am retired since july. I’m 65 and been working for 49 years, with a staff in charge. Those are who allow me to maintain the venue opened, and make it my own way. I would be sorry to close it, because this is a really nice venue, and would be annoyed if any jerk would be in charge of it. Time will tell.
Bar Néstor
Arrandegi kalea, 11
20.003 – Donostia / San Sebastián
Tel: (+34) 943 42 48 73
Web: bar-nestor.negocio.site
Plaza de la Trinidad (Trinidad square) is the soul of the “Jazzaldi”, the Jazz Festival of San Sebastián. Some meters from where you can taste some of the pintxos selected by the Michelin star chefs in Gipuzkoa.
Tomorrow starts the 54th edition of the San Sebastian Jazz Festival, one of the summers mail events in Donostia/San Sebastian, which brings together thousands of people to enjoy live music.
There are many stages and time slots to live those concerts until the next July 28th , but if we have to choose a single space, this would be Plaza de la Trinidad in the Historical Quarter, due to its historical and musical relevance.
Located between the Basilica of Santa Maria and the San Telmo Museum, this medieval square offers a proximity to the stage and unique acoustic properties. Although there is an audience of more than one thousand, this unique space and stage offer outstanding features to performers.
Many of the great names of the genre have performed in “La Trini”, as it´s known. And many of them wanted to repeat. This year, we can enjoy the performances of Donny McCaslin, Maria Schneider, Joshua Redman, Diana Krall, Toquinho, Charles McPherson or Silvia Pérez Cruz, among others.
The Plaza de la Trinidad is accessible from “31 de agosto” street. Taking account that main concerts starts at 9:00 p.m. (except for Sunday, day 28, which will start at 8:00 p.m.), we propose to go our for some pintxos before accessing the site. The offer in this area is very wide; in fact, in just 100 meters you can taste up to 14 pintxos from our list Pintxos – The Starred Chefs List – The 99 Best. Here they are:
The Mixto caliente de jamón serrano (Freshly-baked sandwich filled with Serrano cured ham and cheese, from La Cepa bar (31 August street, 7).
The Charlota de calabacín relleno de centollo (Stuffed courgette Charlotte from Martínez bar (31 August street, 13): this pintxo is arranged on a slice of bread, consisting of a zucchini charlota stuffed with crab cream.
At the Ormazabal bar (31 August street, 22), we can take Morros de ternera, classic veal snouts stewed according to a family recipe., and the Croqueta de espinacas, a creamy spinach croquette with a fine batter.
In Gandarias Bar (31 August street, 23), we can tase two pintxos: Brocheta de gambas, which are three prawns and Iberian bacon stuck on a stick and cooked on the griddle pan; and the Solomillo con pimiento verde, a pintxo of tenderloin with green pepper, placed on a slice of bread and accompanied by green pepper and Maldon salt.
A fuego Negro (31 August street, 31) is a place where black music plays a fundamental role, and not only when it comes to add atmosphere. The jury decided to include three pintxos of this bar on our list: Black Rabas, a reinterpretation of the traditional Basque stew “txipirones en su tinta” (baby squid cream in their ink) presented in pintxo format. These are small circular “rabas” (squid rings) battered in tempura and fried, stuffed with cream of baby squid in their ink. Also the Makcobe, a pintxo consisting of a mini kobe burger in bread with tomato and accompanied by banana chips. And last, but no least, is the Tigreton de Mejillon, a pintxo which is eaten with a spoon, and has as its ingredients warm tomato, béchamel sauce, three mussels, vegetables and pork rind.
In Dakara bi (31 August street 27), the Taco de solomillo con foie, a slice of bread topped with a piece of sirloin and another of griddled duck liver.
And, in order to expand this selection, we propose you four other venues that are located less than 100 meters from the Plaza de la Trinidad, and have seen some of their pintxos included in our list, curated by all the Michelin-starred chefs in Gipuzkoa:
Indeed, the first one, the Croqueta de Txuleta, may be found in Plaza de la Trinidad, 2. It mixes the creaminess of a croquette with the flavor of the txuleta, just in the access to the square.
The Atari (Mayor, 18) in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria, and his Brocheta de Langostinos (griddled king prawn skewer) is recognized on our list: a skewer of four griddled king prawn tails is placed on a slice of bread and topped with a vinaigrette of red and green pepper and chive.
Lastly , La cuchara de San Telmo (Santa Korda, 4) is a small bar hidden in the alley where the dressing rooms of the artists who performed in the square were located, until a couple of years ago. It has two Pintxos included in The Starred Chefs List – The 99 Best: the Foie de Monfort con compota de manzana, a griddled fresh foie pintxo on a bed of stewed apple and Maldon salt; and the Carrillera de ternera guisada al vino tinto: a pintxo of beef cheek stewed in red wine for 8 hours. Finished in its juice with chickpea hummus.
As you can see, the Michelin starred chefs´ selection near Plaza de la Trinidad offers a wide rango of top-quality pintxos, in a very small area. This way, you can face the magical experiencie of living the Jazzaldi concerts in this emblematic square in a very good mood, and taste.
The most outstanding feature of our list, Pintxos – The Starred Chefs List – The 99 Best, is that the selection of the 99 best pintxos in Donostia / San Sebastián has been made by the 11 chefs with Michelin stars in Gipuzkoa. Our land is one of the areas with the highest concentration of Michelin stars in the world, a milestone that reinforces the value of our gastronomy.
And who better than those chefs with the Michelin Guide acknowledgement to select the best pintxos in San Sebastian? That was the starting point of our list. Now, we want to see the flip side of the coin and explain the criteria for awarding Michelin stars, and when our jury member got theirs.
What do Michelin stars evaluate?
The Michelin Guide was created at the beginning of the 20th century. At first it only offered maps of the cities, and service information about auto mechanics or doctors, and was given away when acquiring a tire. From 1926 it began to incorporate information about restaurants.
Considering that we talk about a Road map, the fact that a restaurant has a Michelin star means that it is a restaurant that stands out, and it is worth choosing it among the offer in the area. If the restaurant has two stars, it is worth deviate off the route. And three stars restaurante deserve to plan the trip just for visiting them. In those places, according to the Guide, cooking is an art.
Although today chefs are considered almost as rock stars, with high media coverage and certain religious-type worship, Michelin stars are awards for the restaurants, not for the chefs. Meaning that if a chef quits, the restaurant keeps the stars, which, in any case, can be called into question for the next edition, as can happen with any other restaurant, although in the latter case, receiving more visits from inspectors.
In order to obtain that coveted prize, the restaurant in question could be visited up to ten times by the Michelin inspectors assigned to each country, plus additional visits from the French main inspectors, in case a third star is considered. If this latter is granted, it must be an unanimous decision from all the inspectors involved.
After dining in the restaurant, the inspectors make a report, in which they value the quality of the product, cooking techniques, ratio between quality and price, if the chef embodies his personality in dishes, flavors, and regularity and constance. This is, only food counts: as the Guide says, “the stars are on the plate, and only on the plate”. Decoration, commodities and service of the venue are evaluated through other symbols: forks and spoons, from one to five.
Inspectors always conduct their visits anonymously, and always pay the bill. Anyway, most veteran of them are well known by chefs, and almost certainly, tension will rise in the kitchen when one of these veterans walks the door. All inspectors are professionals with broad hospitality skills, experience in different countries and keen travelers. An inspector can travel more than 30 thousand kms a year, and evaluate up to 250 meals in different restaurants.
The Michelin Guide team meets twice a year to evaluate all the inspectors’ reports and decide the stars distribution, after reaching an agreement by consensus. And they never explain the reasons why they have granted or removed a star.
Our chefs´ stars
With this in mind, there are eleven chefs in Gipuzkoa who currently hold Michelin stars: the first award was for Juan Mari Arzak, who won his first star in the now distant 1972. He was awarded the second in 1978, and holds three since 1989. He currently runs the restaurant with his daughter, Elena Arzak.
Second star in Gipuzkoa was for Pedro Subijana, who leds the restaurant Akelarre, and got his first Michelin star in 1978, the second one in 1982, but the third was to beg: it arrived in 2007.
Martín Berasategui belongs to a new generation of chefs. Being his restaurant the third inside the San Sebastian area to have three Michelin stars, his punch (“garriote” or stick, as himself calls it) and entrepreneurial vision has led him head other restaurants in different cities, accumulating a total of ten Michelin stars: inside Gipuzkoa, he has three assigned to his restaurant Martin Berasategui in Lasarte, and one recently achieved (in the 2019 Guide) for the Eme Be Garrote Restaurant in San Sebastián.
Apart from this three-starred chefs, it´s Andoni Luis Aduriz, the Haruki Murakami of gastronomy. As with the eternal Nobel Prize candidate Japanese writer, year after year Aduriz is in all the pools the get the third Michelin star for Mugaritz, but he still has only two: the first obtained in 2000, and the second in 2006.
Hilario Arbelaitz is a stand alone case: he pioneered the New Basque Cuisine, in front of his restaurant Zuberoa, and was awarded with his first star in 1988, and a second one in 1992. But in 2009 the guide withdrew him this star, a decision that was widely criticized, and that up until now remains understandable for those who knows something about gastronomy. Therefore, his is a Michelin star that’s worth two.
Henceforth, there are five more chefs shining under a Michelin star. This is the case of Gorka Txapartegui, who obtained the award for his Alameda restaurant in Hondarribia in 1998. Kokotxa, owned by Dani López, obtained it in 2008. Mirador de Ulía by Rubén Trincado was recognized in 2010. And Aitor Arregi, after hanging up his boots ( he was a professional footballer for Alavés and Villarreal, among other teams), took the lead of the family restaurant, Elkano, in Getaria, and won his Michelin star in 2015. Finally, in 2018, the Argentinian chef Paulo Airaudo got a record star for his restaurant: it opened only 7 months ago!
Bearing this background in mind, and without taking account of the many other awards that these chefs own, we believe that we can say, without fear or error, that we have one of the most recognized, trustworthy and skilled jury for the matter to judge.
Although it is not easy to demonstrate which was the first bar that started delivering pintxos (or “banderillas” as they were called back then) in San Sebastian, this honor, according to several sources, seems to belong to bar La Espiga. Located in the center district of the city, in San Marcial street, next to La Concha beach, this bar remains there and, what is more remarkable, is still owned by the same family that opened it on November 17,1928: the Castro family. The signs of the original façade are still preserved.
The always busy bar has been managed by three generations of this family, It has been reformed twice in their 90 years of existence: first in the 70s, and once again in 2008. From the latter, tiles used for the bar floor stand out, because they are the same used on the city sidewalks. Since a bar in this city is a mere extensión of the street for all those locals who practice the ritual of going out for pintxos.
You have to travel many kilometers from San Sebastián to find a wheat field, but this bar was named “La Espiga”, which means “wheat spike”. The name derives from the wheat warehouse that occupied the venue earlier. Those days San Sebastián was undergoing a tourist boom, living its own Belle Epoque, and, being the bar close to the beach, they used Pintxos to attract vacationers to the venue. The name of those products were “banderillas” (current pintxos), because they were little pieces of food skewered in a pick and put on top of a slice of bread. Sounds familiar, does it?
It was Luisa San Martín who created first os those pintxos that are now history. She was the grandmother of the current owners, and opened the bar with her husband, Jesús Castro. Luisa had learned the trade from her mother Simona, who worked at an economic restaurant called El Nido. Luisa created pintxos that 90 years later can still be tasted in La Espiga: La Chorrera, Milanesa, Fritos, Ensaladilla Rusa …
In the 60s, his son, José Mari Castro, started managing the family business, along with his wife, Garbiñe Berganzos. Garbiñe added new proposals to La Espiga, such as the “cazuelitas de Morros o Albóndigas” (pork snouts and meatballs served in earthenware pots), which soon became classics of this bar.
Now the family third generation runs La Espiga. They are Jesús, Txema, Luma and Koro, sons of José Mari and Garbiñe. Under the guidance of Koro, this generation has brought new pintxos to La Espiga. For instance, The “Tuna Ropa Vieja”, or the “Crujiente de Langostino” (crispy shrimp), to name a few.
As you read this, if have begun to be hungry, you are welcome to visit La Espiga, enjoy their full San Sebastian style design, and particularly their gastronomic proposal: faithful to its origins, but growing across generations. Our Michelin-starred chefs jury has selected two of them for our Pintxos list: Chorreraand Delicia.
La Espiga
San Martzial Kalea 48
20006 – Donostia – San Sebastián
Tel: (+34) 943 42 14 23
Email: info@laespigabar.com
Pablo Loureiro Rodil is lucky. On June 3, at a ceremony held at the Kursaal Convention Center, he received the Euskadi Gastronomy Award to the Best Restaurateur of 2018. This is an award granted by the Basque Government, at the proposal of the Basque Academy of Gastronomy. It recognizes the good work of this chef in front of Casa Urola, a classic restaurant from the Historical Quarter of San Sebastian, who he and his wife Begoña Arenas have been running since 2010.
On the ground of this recognition, we took the opportunity to visit him in his kitchen and chat, take stock of his career in charge of Casa Urola, and learn more about his gastronomic philosophy and his pintxos. We put a great deal in the latter, since Casa Urola is one of the few businesses that have 3 pintxos selected in our List Pintxos – The Starred Chefs List – The 99 Best.
Pablo, what does the Euskadi Gastronomy Award meant for you?
A huge satisfaction, but also, if feasible, a feeling of greater responsability. These awards strengthen us, but also they are committing us to to come up to the mark.
What is your assessment of your seven years in charge of Casa Urola?
Very positive, and very intense. If, when I opened seven years ago, somebody would have told me all the things that were going to happen us, I wouldn’t have believed him. This 7 years, they all went very fast, as well as the 30 years I’ve been involved in the catering industry.
How has the pintxo world changed in these seven years?
Of course, when I arrived, there were people making pintxos long before me. But, in my opinion, I was an early adopter of restaurant concepts inside the bar counter, such as seasonal pintxos. If you change the restaurant menu four times a year, why not do the same with pintxos? For instance, now we also cook pintxos with vegetables, which was something I started doing a long time ago. Every time I see more bars with seasonal pintxos. Cooking them are more labor intensive, but this way you complement your offer, people like the idea, and furthermore I don’t get bored.
How has the Historical Quarter changed in these 7 years?
Obviously, there has been a tourist boom, some say that it is overcrowded … we have to be prepared to meet the demands of all those visitors, but at once I think we should extend the city limits, something that should be good even for bars in the Historical Quarter, that people can go to other districts in the city. And that we will be able to transmit our philosophy to the visitors.
The grill is one of the trademarks in Casa Urola’s gastronomic offer: What qualities make you bet so much for this technique?
Grilling is a hallmark of Casa Urola. It brings that rustic touch, a way of working that goes back to the roots. The grill never lies: it boosts the great and fresh product, while there is no way to improve a bad product. We grill meat and pieces of fish, but also use grilling for cooking more elaborated dishes, using it almost as a spice, giving them a delicate roast, without messing up the core of the product
Pintxo de alcachofa a la brasa con praliné de almendras y jamón
In a restaurant like Casa Urola, what role does the workforce play?
It is critical. In this Historical Quarter, visitors come in spurts. Suddenly, 15 people come, and you need enough labour force in the kitchen, because you cannot make a customer wait. Furthermore, we have pintxos that require a grade of processing: some sauces, some firing, some side dishes… In summer, we are 9 cooks inside the kitchen. It´s a lot for such a small place, but it is the only way we are able to maintain quality standards. Besides that we have the same rush hour both in the restaurant and in the bar counter. Adding to it that downstairs, in the bar, you can eat pintxos but also can request the menu, you can combine both of them. We have trainees of schools such as Luis Irizar´s, and they help us a lot, but also senior workers who give us the expertise we need.
And as far as I can see here, you also sign international workers!
Sure. Now we have two Japanese, and two Koreans. Partly because they likely will help us, along other chefs of San Sebastian, to open a pintxos corner in a Japanese hotel. It is usual for a lot of local chefs to have the desire to learn in some restaurants in Japan, just as a lot of Japanese chefs come here with the same aim. Nowadays, young cooks want to work in as much places as possible, to learn and gain experience. There are no longer kitchen careers, where someone starts from below and raises to head of kitchen. People have concerns, and we have to organize a team of people every year, just as soccer teams.
Casa Urola has 3 pintxos (Karmelita, Vieira a la plancha con ajoblanco, and Alcachofa con praline de almendras y jamón) on our list of the 99 Best Pintxos in Donostia / San Sebastián. What does that entail for you?
It´s awesome. We’ve been making pintxos for seven years, and there are bars that are authentic institutions. Being there side by side is a serious responsability. But it is also a chance to move up a gear and be in a state of flux, and always achieve the highest level: in summer days customers may have to wait a little longer, but the quality of pintxos can not go down.
Do you notice that there is more demand for these pintxos since Pintxos App was launched?
By all means. Specially with Alcachofa (Artichoke) and Vieira (Scallop). The scallop has doubled sales since Pintxos App came out. It has become very popular, as well as the Artichoke, although this one is a seasonal pintxo, from autumn to winter.
What about Karmelita? It’s a classic!
Karmelita, which is a cold pintxo, has also boomed. At the beginning, when we opened, I was more focused on the restaurant, even further considering the huge offering we had around us. But later I saw one opportunity to do something of my own, and that’s where seasonal pintxos came from, following the same path of the restaurant.
Pintxo de Karmelita
What is the secret of a good pintxo?
Good raw material, care, and immediacy. The immediacy is very important. In fact that’s the reason for what we do few cold pintxos. People here see how we work, and they like it: when we run out of Karmelitas, of Gildas…we replenish them, that’s it. Perhaps we have to cook cold pintxos again at 1 p.m. We prefer to do that rather than see pintxos making a long time on the bar counter. And for hot pintxos, we follow suit: they are made at the momento, the scallop is marked on the fly, as is the steak snack, the liver…it´s hard work, but people are not stupid and they appreciate it.
Is it easy to find good quality ingredients?
It is becoming more difficult everyday, because even though chefs have always talked about caring for producers, many of them are leaving, because their work is no longer profitable. We have to commit to them. I see producers as another piece of our team, partners. And if both partner, us and them, are not happy, this alliance will not properly work. We should acknowledge their input, because without it, the whole thing would fall apart.
Which percentage applies to tradition and innovation in Casa Urola proposal?
We have always been described as a traditional, updated kitchen. I do not deny the tradition, but I always think that there is an evolution: in techniques, in kitchen materials, in cooking temperature… Focusing on pintxos, I believe that we would be in a 50/50 between tradition and innovation. Cold pintxo itself is very traditional, while there is much more creativity in the hot ones. Most of them remain as casual interpretations of dishes of the restaurant menu, prepared with the same products.
Do you renew your pintxos offer?
Yes, as I said, on a seasonal basis. For instance, in summer we remove the spring salad, the asparagus cream, and introduce a tuna hamburger, which we make with leftovers of the tuna in the menu. We cook it with poached onion and Iberian pork´s fat, and it goes directly to the bar counter. There are also some sauteed green beans, with cod flakes and potato foam…They are pintxos inspired by dishes in the restaurant menu, which are quite well elaborated.
And are there pintxos in Casa Urola that you could not retire? Because of the demand
The Scallop, the Octopus, the Lobster spoon, to name a few, these could not be removed. And Karmelita, of course. There are few Lobster spoons: lobsters are cleaned for the restaurant, and we prepare the spoon crumbling their heads and legs. We always use the same product for both the bar and the restaurant. If one day we get product for fifteen spoons, there are no more. Once they’re over, you have to wait to the next day to taste it.
Pintxo de vieira a la plancha con ajoblanco
Does Pablo Loureiro like going out for pintxos?
Of course! It’s the way to socialize, to hang out with friends … You’re here all day working, and that walk from bar to bar, where you join different people in different places … That’s the magic of going out for pintxos. Pintxos and socialize go together, and that’s something not to be missed either.
What pintxo of the 99 Best Pintxos, not from your bar, would you like it to be from Casa Urola?
(Laughter) None! Because if they do it so well in that place, I would not get it better. There are traditional pintxos, those of the popular cookbok, which we all do, and moreover those which have a very personal, non transferable stamp.
What about pintxos plagiarism? They don’t have copyright, so if another bar copies you a recipe, little can be done!
A scrambled mushroom dish, some beans with foie…who owns the authorship? They are traditional recipes. Well, copying something without acknowledging that is some type of “tribute” or “in memory of”, that should not be done. Thus, each one prepares the pintxos in his own way, but if you copy something, you should mention it in some way.
Casa Urola
Fermín Calbetón 20
20003 Donostia – San Sebastián
Tel: (+34) 943 44 13 71
Email: info@casaurolajatetxea.es
A pintxo is not a tapa, a selection of snacks or a small plate. It is an individual bite-sized appetiser, carefully composed down to the last detail and especially made for the person who orders it. Wherever you go in San Sebastián, you will find a wide and varied range of pintxos. Even in a single bar, proposals can be unmanageable. And what about the Historical Quarter! It is said that it would take 100 days/24 hours to see all the pieces of art exhibited in Louvre Museum. Well, something similar happens with pintxos in the San Sebastián Historical Quarter.
But all that glitters is not gold. Therefore, Pintxos – The Starred Chefs List – The 99 best separates the chaff from the wheat, bringing to you the 99 best pintxos of San Sebastián, selected by the 11 Michelin star chefs of Gipuzkoa.
You should prepare yourself for this unbeatable culinary plan, choosing which pintxos from our list want to taste. But going for pintxos has its own rules. For this reason, we will give you seven keys to help you to live this experience like a real local.
ONE
One bar, one pintxo. We know, you may be tempted to eat all pintxos you see in the first bar you visit, but going out for pintxos should be an almost nomadic experience. The more bars we visit, more specialities we can taste.
TWO
Let´s take more than one pintxo in a bar. Yes, we know that this second guideline runs counter to the first. But unbreakable rules have little to do with a plan as hedonistic as this. Are you not able to resist the temptation of a banquet in the first bar? Well, let yourself go.
THREE
You do not need a plate. It is likely that when you get close to the bar, a waiter will give you a plate, so that you can put in it the pintxos that you want to eat. This is a recent habit, induced by the wide presence of tourists. We, locals, do not use any plate: you don’t need it, you’re going to eat standing up. Eat pintxos one by one, as you want, don’t take them over in the plate as if you had a ration card. Don´t worry, they won’t sell out.
FOUR
Help yourself to the cold pintxos, ask for the hot ones. Serve yourself the Cold pintxos, which are displayed in the bar, without asking for permission to the waiter. There may be hot pintxos in the bar counter, such as croquettes, but they are usually for sample purposes. If we are unsure about the hot pintxos offer, we can ask the waiter. And we can even ask him about their specialty. Even if we get hurried, we can ask for pintxos included in The 99 Best list. Those ones are hits!
FIVE
Better a short drink. If pintxos experience consist in eat a pintxo in each bar, and repeat it in four, five or more bars, if you ask for a pint of beer in each one, next morning you won’t likely remember what you ate. A “zurito” (beer short), a “txikito” (short wine) a “marianito” (short vermouth), a “Txakoli” (local wine), grape juice or a dash of cider pair well with pintxos. However, better choose only one type of drink: if you switch between them, next morning you either won’t remember what you ate.
SIX
Indoor or outdoor, it´s your choice. We have already told you that, when going out for pintxos, you usually stand to eat. You can do it next to the bar counter, or at another point of the bar, but, weather permitting, you can also do it on the street. Enjoying a sunny day in San Sebastian is another experience you should not miss. Next day It is likely to rain. And you might have a hangover. That’s a bad move.
SEVEN
Trust the waiter: the waiter trusts you. When paying, tell the waiter which pintxos you have eaten. He likely will be tracked them better than you, but we Basques are well meaning people, and if everyone admits the number of pintxos they have eaten, this would be a better world.
Now you are ready to live the pintxo experience like locals: the only decision you have to make is how many pintxos of our list you are going to eat!
Size matters, especially if you’re going to make a pintxo route through San Sebastian, to taste its different specialties. Four, five pintxos, each accompanied by … A draft beer, or “caña”?
It’s not the best idea. Because caña in San Sebastian, depending of the generosity of each bar, can double the traditional size of traditional cañas from Madrid.
If you want drink beer with the pintxos in San Sebastián, but in a smaller size, you can ask for a Zurito. That’s what is called “corto” in other Spanish cities, about 150 milliliters, served in the traditional glass of txikito (short wine), wide and low.
The name comes from the 60´s. The “txikiteo” (the practice of going from bar to bar with your group of friends, having a wine in each one, and each people paying one full round) was the way of socializing for young people. But socialize always with the same friends, because for basques, “Cuadrilla”, the group of friends, is an indivisible unit, staying away from other “cuadrillas”. Its members standing in line in the bar counter, or forming an impenetrable ring for anyone who was not part of that gang.
Talking about day to day matters, or about last game of Real Sociedad, the local team, while drinking the cheap wine of that times, not staying long in each bar. One could left home without a particular meeting point, and could know what bar his friends were exactly, watching the time. Their route used to be unchangeable, but if they were not in that one, they would be in the next one. One wine after another, and more and more…until lose track, or something more.
But a black sheep emerged from this landscape. His name was Carlos Pérez Garrido. Fed up with cheap wine, he decided to have a beer. But, having to drink double the amount of liquor, he could not keep pace with “txikiteros”, and because of that reason, and as bars in San Sebastian did not have beer taps, he began to ask for half bottles. Also, in their walk, the group of friends usually came back to the same bars twice, so in the second round, Carlos Pérez Garrido used to finish the bottle that he had left started in the first.
One zurito, please
The whole universe of Basque “cuadrillas” was not prone to changes, by little by little, people who disliked wine increasingly started to ask for beer. When ordering, Carlos used to did it asking for a mini of beer, so we still have to know how someone baptized that measure as “Zurito”. Apparently, that guy was Patxi Alkorta, owner of Bar Irutxulo. When someone invited him to put a name to that now popular new measure, he decided to name it Zurito, just because Carlos Pérez Garrido was supporter of bullfighter Gabriel de la Haba, a.k.a “Zurito of Cordoba”.
Carlos Pérez Garrido died in 2018. He was the last of his “cuadrilla”. If you want to honor him by taking a zurito (or some more), today that all bars have beer towers, best option can be a Keler, the traditional beer from San Sebastián that also drank those firs “Txikiteros”, a lager beer that pairs fine with pintxos.
Gros district, in San Sebastián, is undergoing a major transformation, and this has pushed the opening of many places with an innovative spirit, the whole neighborhood becoming, with regard to going out for pintxos, an inviting alternative to the traditional hegemony of the Historical Quarter, the Olympus of pintxos.
One of those places to visit is Xarma Cook & Culture, a step away from the beach of La Zurriola. Located in a large space previously occupied by a cannabis club, once you go inside you realize that you are in a space full of personality and good taste, something that is becoming less common overall, with much and so many restaurants that have been so similar.
But Xarma Cook & Culture does not come out of nowhere. Aizpea Oihaneder and Xabier Díez achieved to convert the old Xarma, that they managed for a decade in the Antiguo district, a benchmark for San Sebastian’s signature cuisine. But looking for broad their horizons, they closed that one, and opened a year and a half ago this new Xarma with the addition of “Cook & Culture” to its name. We spoke with Xabier about this leap of location, but above all, of concept and seating.
How do you rate this new stage?
Total madness. We came from a small business, making author kitchen or haute cuisine, and here we have jumped in the deep end: we have the bar upstairs, restaurants menu is more extensive, customers have trebled, and right now we are still defining our concept.
This new Xarma has cope with the times, offering a more complete experience: what does that mean?
What we intend to do in Xarma is help people to find their place, that many different kinds of people can find their way here. We like, for instance, to have people tasting a very elaborate menu, and other ones in the adjoining table dining a “txuleta”, the traditional chop. Ditto for our type of customers: we are open to couples, group of friends, business people…all in the same space, with a wide range of gastronomic proposals, and room for everyone.
You have an open kitchen, exposed to the prying eyes of all diners. Don’t you have nothing to hide?
There is nothing to hide, and it allows us to have direct contact with customers. When you are in a closed kitchen, you do not know what is happening in the dining room, you only know what the room team tells you. Here we see the faces of all diners, how they react, what kind of clientele we have … It is a more direct contact in all senses.
As you see customers, they also see you! I mean, you have to control yourself and make good figure all the time, yes?
Clearly. Indeed, since we are here, I have trouble sleeping, and get home with a lot pressure, because here you have to control yourself and put a happy face. It demands more, but we do not regret this commitment.
How important is the workforce in your project?
Absolute. We spent many hours together, with very challenging and stressful moments, which can only be supported by a good team, a good family and lots of closer ties between us. Now that Aizpea and me are 45 and 46 years old, it comes young people that brings new blood, a fresh approach, and help us to progress. If you don’t have a good work team, you fail.
Is Zurriola beach vicinity the ideal setting for a restaurant like Xarma?
Definitely. By location, by everything. In fact, our customers have told us for this year and a half. Some of them miss the old Xarma, but other really love the new offer. Therefore, we are looking for balance, because we cannot afford to do certain type of cooking for the huge volume of people that this venue allows. At this point, we are thinking about reducing the seating capacity, to be able to do the cooking that come from our souls. This space allow us to receive all kind of people, but they have to be relaxed, no etiquettes or bullshit like that.I do not want to impose an experience: the experience is given by your couple, your friends, the producer you speak with…Our food must only be the perfect excuse to live you own experience in the best way possible.
– You have 2 pintxos (Solomillo Euskaltxerri and Piquillo parrillero) on our list of the 99 best pintxos in Donostia / San Sebastián. What has this recognition meant for you?
There are people that come solely and exclusively to taste those pintxos, and by the way they try others, because we have a wide range for cooking pintxos. It goes from the chatka pintxos, that all bars have, but prepared our own way, to grilled piquillo peppers or a tataki pintxo, that are much more sofisticated works. We really have felt that push, people that want to know the restaurant and our pintxos.
Beyond these two pintxos on the list, what other pintxos would you highlight from your offer?
We have a changing offer. When we think something for a weekend, we don’t need to think twice, we do it and put in on the counter. Tradition and vanguard live there together, with no frills attached. Let things taste as they have to. For instance, chatka. Everybody says: fucking surimi chatka… we have given importance to this product, we cook it with good shrimps, put a good crafish oil emulsion…ultimately, we have given the prominence it deserves, and today is the pintxo most often sold.
Pintxo de solomillo Euskaltxerri
What is the secret of a good pintxo?
It must be tasty, easy to eat, if possible one or two bites must be enough to do it, better with no cutlery. The secret of a good pintxo is to take care of the food.
And how important is the quality of that product?
Quality of the ingredients is always important, and simplicity of a pintxo does not always come together with the number of ingredients it carries. You can find pintxos with few ingredients but much more cooking work that other with more ingredients.
Is it hard to find a good product?
No. Moreover, it is becoming easier for the producer to come to your home. You just have to be willing to work it, but that means that, if you want a good product, it has a price, and your margin will be lower. But good product exists, and is available to everyone. Same as the bad one.
How often do you renew your pintxos offer?
It depends a lot on the season: there are seasons that are less generous than others. And it also depends on the inspiration that we have that moment. If I have time and mind something, I do it and we put it on the counter. Sometimes it works, but if not, I eat it myself (laughs).
Since you are in Gros District, is there some pintxo that has already become an essential?
The Piquillo parrillero, practically from the beginning, as well as the Iberian Sirloin Tataki, and now the Puturru de Foie. And Bestsellers are chatka, and longfinned tuna with chilli peppers small roll.
Pintxo de piquillo parrillero
What percentage would you give to tradition and innovation in Xarma’s proposal?
It could be 60/40, although more than talking about innovation, we speak of sophistication. But the objective, rather than seeking that balance, is to come closer to the type of cook we made in the old Xarma, the signature cooking, inspired by tradition.That is what we want to achieve, but we have to find ourselves, adapt the venue to our kitchen, and not our kitchen to the venue.
This year your partner Aizpea Oihaneder was in charge of cutting the new Idiazabal cheese in the “Artzai eguna”, the sheperd´s day held annually in Ordizia. What did this mean for Xarma?
It was a very important recognition for us, and even more so for Aizpea, who has been attending the “Artzai eguna” for many years. The Idiazabal has always been present in our menu, and it is a product with which we work a lot.
Do you like going out for pintxos?
I love it. In fact, I like it more than sit down at a restaurant. I like walk from bar to bar eating pintxos, as also sit down in a bar terrace. I find it much more dynamic, more varied, more casual, and I enjoy it more.
What pintxo of the 99 best list of some other bar you would like to create?
The lobster spoon from Casa Urola, for example, blows my mind. From Bodega Donostiarra, I remember from my childhood the Completo, a sandwich of Spanish white tuna in oil with peppers. I also would eat any of bar Zazpi. In Bar Bergara, I still ask for the Chopito, another one I remember from my childhood, and enjoy the tomato and Tuna tartar. I would walk to each bar to taste one, and also the rest!
If we had to select a single iconic and pioneering pintxo from our list, it would be the Gilda. Mainly because the origin of Gilda is, in fact, the origin of all pintxos. An origin that, like other great discoveries, arose by chance. Main ingredients were there, standing on the bar counters, until a client of Casa Valles, a bar located at Reyes Católicos street in San Sebastián, screwed them in a stick. That changed everything.
Ingredients
There is no mystery in the recipe of La Gilda. The success lies in the combination of bitter and acid flavors, and in the quality of the products. Because anchovies, chilli peppers or olives are not all the same.
The anchovy can be found in the Pacific Ocean, in the Atlantic, and also. the Mediterranean or in the Black Sea. But within the anchovy species, the “Engraulis encrasicolus” is the most valuable, and that is what we can find in our Gulf of Biscay. This oily fish is hooked in spring and early summer, when it rises to the surface, to feed and reproduce. It has many advantages such as its richness in magnesium, iodine, and Omega 3 acids, as well as in B,A and D vitamins.
The anchovies used for making Gildas are preserved in oil. Mention peppers, we must talk about Ibarra, a small town Gipuzkoa, and their famous peppers, a.k.a “Langostinos de Ibarra” (prawns of Ibarra). They are an indigenous variety who owns the official Appellation “Eusko Label”. Harvest occurs between July and august, and among its virtues are its plentiful phosphorus, calcium and A,B and C vitamins. Chilli peppers used for La Gilda are pickled.
Third major ingredient are pitted olives of Manzanilla. They contain Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, as well as A,B and E vitamins, iron, magnesium, calcium and sodium. Olives are, as chilli peppers, pickled.
History
In the 40s of the last century, it was very common to help drinks with some olives, anchovies, or some other pickles. All at once, those helped to drink and, being salty, pushed customers to continue drinking. Those years Blas Vallés, the grandfather of the current owners, ran Casa Vallés. He was from Olite, in Navarra, from where he moved to San Sebastian in 1942 to set up a commercial winery . In 1946 he got the bar license, but he also continued to sell cask-wine.
But this history has another key figure inside Casa Valles: Joaquín Aramburu, a.k.a. “Txepetxa”. One of the regular patrons. Nobody knows how many hours have spent Txepetxa sitting and drinking in that bar counter until that day when, at his own risk, he took an anchovy, a chilli pepper and an olive, and skewered them in a stick. This wisecrack came together among the other regulars, and soon they started to ask for that combination.
Green, salty, and a little spicy
It was also Txepetxa himself who put name to this first pintxo. The movie “Gilda” was released in Spain at Christmas 1947. It raised a great controversy worldwide for its sexyness, making Rita Hayworth one of the biggest sex symbols of the moment. Txepetxa found similarities between the character player by the actress and the new pintxo: both were”green, salty, and a little spicy”.
We don´t know wether the actress, of Spanish origin, had news of this modest but flavorful tribute, but doubtless she would have liked it much more than the one that U.S. Army made to her: an Atomic Bomb that was given her name and embellished with a picture of her, before testing in 1946 in the Bikini atoll.
The fact is that the standing wave this Gilda pintxo started reached to almost all bars in San Sebastián, and continued to expand throughout the entire Basque Country and most of Spain. It made explode further development of pintxos culture. And, despite being the first, after so many years, it remains one of the key and most successful pintxos.
Anyway, having 99 pintxos on our list, why stay alone with one? Have you tried them all?
Casa Vallés
Reyes Católicos 10
20006 Donostia – San Sebastián
Tel. (+34) 943 45 22 10
Email. antxonvalles@gmail.com
