Month: September 2019

Antonio bar is one of the most emblematic venues in San Sebastian downtown, but it is also , for many people, a place to discover. It has been almost 25 years since Humberto Segura and Ramon Elizalde took over this business, and since then they have built up a work-based reputation. It’s hard to get a greater return from such a small place, even if Antonio bar seems smaller If you don’t come in. Humberto will discover us some of his secrets.

When did the Antonio bar open?

This bar first opened on July 7, 1969. It was opened by Antonio Royo, a well known face in hospitality in San Sebastián. He retired in ’94, and sold the business to Ramon and me. We did a makeover, because the tavern looked just like the first day of opening, and we reopened in the spring of 1995. We took this tavern because Ramon was working in Basque Bar, myself at Hotel Europa, and a lot of customers encouraged us to take over the Antonio. We had already worked together, we were friends, and everyone told us that Antonio’s was the best customer base in whole San Sebastián, thankful and well established, and that the bar was a historical one, with a good reputation due to its pintxos. It didn’t take us long to realize that everything they told us was true.

Who was in charge of cooking at that time?

We didn’t want to take any risk, so we kept both the original menu and the chef, which had been in the tavern since the opening! We thought it wasn’t time to shake things, although we did have a lot of ideas. We worked very well from the beginning, and soon we hired another chef and one waitress, and then we started changing some things in the menu.

When did you take the plunge?

In 2000, after a lot of patrons suggested it to us, we made improvements and put a dining room in the basement, moving the toilets down as well. We hired a new chef, Iñigo Tello, who came from Zuberoa Restaurant, and he did help us to change the menu. So we started to grow.

Your current chef is José Ramón Ezkurdia: what did his arrival mean to you?

In 2013, Iñigo wanted to leave, so we called José Ramón Ezcurdia, chef of Urepel restaurant, that went out of business in late 2012. First he wasn’t sure, but after a long talk whereby we told him that this project could satisfy him, due to close contact with a grateful clientele… I don’t know how, but we convinced him. Then we reshaped the menu, updated it, and here we are.

You have a really small venue, but you put a strong fight!

We work well. We have some typical dishes, like the anchovy pintxo, that we have been delivering for 50 years. It was a pintxo created by Antonio, and we have refurbished it.

There are many who don’t know you have a dining room in the basement.

That’s right. It is not very large, just six tables.

And a very special private room in the storage: sure enough, a lot of deals have been clinched there!

We only book it to our friends and regular customers, and yes, it’s a room with an unique environment.

How would you define your gastronomic offer?

We tried to work with seasonal product. The best possible service and the best raw material. Our motto has always been that we are neither the smartest nor the most handsome: we want to be the hard workers, and even if people jokes about it, we say we’re always learning. We have been here for almost 25 years, and we always try to improve our proposal. I think there are few places in San Sebastian where they can make a coffee as good as ours. And we have been able to be known from our way of pulling beer, using a brand (Cruzcampo) nobody liked.

Michelin-starred chefs in Gipuzkoa chose three of your pintxos (“Antxoa”, “Crujiente de Rabo de buey”, and “Ravioli de Langostino en salsa de Martini”) to be in the list of the 99 best pintxos in San Sebastian: What did this acknowledgement mean to you?

We were recently asked by the Basque Public broadcaster ETB to show them our three best pintxos: but we told them we’d bring them 3 of the 20 best pintxos we have. If we’re going to offer a pintxo, it has to be good. Inasmuch as we don’t like, and especially if it’s not sold, we take it away. Our pintxos are in the counter because they are sold, people like them. In fact, those three are now the ones that sell the most, and by far, the “Ravioli de langostino en salsa de Martini”. That is a dish from our restaurant, where we make it with lobster, and we decided to make a cheaper version for the tavern. When a dish is very successful, we try to get the pintxo version, as it is with the “Igeldo” pintxo, which ensued from our tomato and white tuna belly salad.

You make a virtue from what could be a handicap: a small bar counter. Your bet is to cook pintxos at the time.

The secret of making good pintxos is, for me, to cook them at the moment. We have the tavern divided in two partes: on the right side, we serve the pintxos of anchovy, salmon, octopus, smoked sardine, beef jerky, shrimp with vinaigrette…we serve between eight and ten pintxos there, toasting the bread at the moment. You have to wait 3 minutres, but you get a fresh pintxo, and that makes the difference. Inside the kitchen we have an already prepared basic recipe, but we also assemble the pintxos at the moment. Some people get nervous waiting, but then they see the difference too.

The potato omelette is another one of your signature dishes

We used to make one a day, and now we do five. 3 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. They are big, we make 30 pintxos from each. We never thought about it in a marketing way, but it’s true however that having a limited number works, because it raises expectation.

How easy is finding a good product?

After so many years, it happens that our suppliers have became our friends. Since we started, Cárnicas Goya bring us the meat. I call Josean directly, and chops the meat for us. We also have lunch together once or twice a year, to agree on what we can improve, or what we can change. The same with our fishmonger, who is Ivan Sotero. We have moved to friendship, and he always tries to find the way to help us. In fact, there are times when some different supplier comes to us offering the same product but somewhat cheaper. Buy I don’t wan’t to lose the relationship with a provider who takes care of us. An this applies to all vendors, as if he’s the toilet soap provider. It’s two-way loyalty.

In view of space limitations in the bar, team coordination must be essential.

We do not only retain loyal to suppliers, we also retain employees. This is a good place to work, because we close Sundays and Holidays, which helps to have staff stability. Nobody leaves here.

How many workers are you on the staff?

We’re 10.

Will you arrange any special celebration to mark your 25th anniversary?

That will be difficult, because we have taken over the Barandiaran tavern, and we want to open it for Easter next year. We will try to organize it in the same way as Antonio bar’s, but more spacious and with a terrace. And keeping our stress level in mind, I think it doesn’t give us time to run anything for our 25th aniversary.

The 67th San Sebastian Film Festival starts this Friday. 9 days when the city residents go to the cinema, and the movie stars go to eat pintxos. On the ground of the “Zinemaldia”, we have visited the Astoria 7 Hotel, closely linked to cinema: it is owned by SADE company, (also owner of three cinemas in the city: Trueba, Príncipe and Antiguo Berri), and because its decor is based on the film world.Iñigo Palma is the chef of the Astoria 7 Bistroteka. He studied in the San Sebastian School of Hospitality and Cuisine, but mostly he learned at La Muralla, side by side with Iñigo Bozal. One the their pintxos in Bistroteka Astoria 7, Carrillera sobre puré de patatas (cheek over mashed potato), was chosen for our list by the Michelin-starred Chefs in Gipuzkoa.

Iñigo, how long have you been running the Astoria 7 kitchen?

I’m going for nine years now.

Is there something different about managing a restaurant inside an hotel?

Yes. In fact, at first I was very reluctant to get into an hotel, because of rumours. It’s also true that this is not what I thought was an hotel kitchen, where everything would be prepared and just ready to heat up. They allowed us to cook the way we wished to do, so we make things restaurant-style, not hotel-style.At the same time, you really have things like breakfast, events, groups… somethings you don’t have in a restaurant.

What is the basis for your gastronomic offer?

Foremost, traditional cooking. Very recognizable tastes and dishes, however we try to give them a soft sparkle.

Does the fact of being in an hotel matter?

Being inside an hotel matters. It forces you to maintain a mainstream side: you have to offer a caesar salad, hamburguers, a club sandwich… things you should find in every hotel, you cannot miss them. We also must take account of our location, outside downtown or the historical quarter. We work a lot with people from the neighborhood. There are the hotel guests, but our daily patrons are locals and workers in the area.

The 11 Michelin-Starred chefs in Gipuzkoa have chosen your Cheek over mashed potato to be in our list Pintxos- The 99 best. What does this distinction mean to you.

Any recognition is important, but the main one comes from our customer base, everytime they are pleased. Anyway, such recognition is also very welcome.

What other pintxos would you highlight from your menu?

One way or another we always have a cod fillet. Depending on the season, it will have different garnish. Risottos are also a classic we keep changing: with squid, mushrooms, prawns… According to the season we are accompanying it with different ingredients. The risotto is also a classic that we are alternating: Squid, mushrooms, prawns… Low temperature eggs are also a common staple: we garnish them with different sauces and other ingredients.

How often do you usually renew your offer?

We try to renew it twice or three times a year. Many times customers are who call for it, although sometimes the same ones who demand new things, then ask you for the pintxo you’ve taken away!

Which are most successful, cold pintxos or the hot ones?

There is something for everyone. As I have said, location means a lot, and people working around here are critical. They have just enough time to make lunch, 10-15 minutes, so they do well with the cold sandwiches on the counter or the potato omelette, which they thank a lot.

Is it hard to find good product?

It costs money. We always try to work with a good raw material, but can’t fight for some breams or soles. We are in a neighborhood, but we try to have the best long finned tuna in season, best anchovies, best scorpion fish…

Which pintxo would you stand out from our list?

When I started at cuisine school, I was really struck by the Txepetxa selection, which was always based in anchovies. And all of them tasted great. I was freaked out by all that different stuff they could do with the same base product, and how great they were. Our own Beef cheek pintxo has to do with the success La Cuchara de San Telmo got with theirs, Martin Berasategui also cooked cheeks, but only as a restaurant dish. The cheek is today a classic, but it wasn’t thirty years ago. Rather than staying for a concrete pintxo, I would highlight the shift from lifelong cold pintxo, the Gilda, the Tuna…to cooked dishes. That commitment to sophisticated pintxos.

How can you draw people to Amara and Astoria 7 when going out for pintxos?

Taverns in Amara are not around, but not only from classic pintxos areas, but also among themselves. There is no such vicinity as it is in Downtown, in the Historical Quarter, or Gros. When somebody opens a bar nearby, we don’t make them rivals, they are fellows. We all gain strengh.

When visiting the Astoria 7 hotel, we have also interviewed their head receptionist Miriam Rubio, who has been working there right from the open, 10 years ago. We let her to talk us about the mood during the the Festival season, to see if she shares some gossip with us.

Miriam, do you usually have people associated to movie world hosted here during the festival?

Usually, There are not stars around. As a result of protocol they host in María Cristina hotel, but some of then stay first here, to dress and make up for their arrival.

So could we be lucky and see them around here before there in María Cristina?

Not really. They come in their cars, and do not check in. We work it quietly, just because they want to go unnoticed. They come from a very long journey, tired, and we give them a chance to rest, dress and make up, so they can look awesome when they are onstage, on the red carpet at María Cristina. On the other hand, many, let’s say, secondary Spanish actors have usually been hosted at our hotel, and also production companies’ staff.

Do you usually have events or something like that linked to the festival? You are a theme hotel, so you have all the props!

That’s why that many press conferences are held in the library, and also some small parties, because we don’t have much space. They fell sorry for not bringing us bigger things, since the hotel is not only focused in cinema, but specially in the San Sebastian Festival!!!

It is a common refrain that the neighborhood of Txintxerpe should be the fifth Galician province, due to the many people living there from Galician origins. Pulling this thread, Igara may become the ninth Andalusian province. At least, you could figure it if you arrive to number 19 Igara Bidea Street. No, there is not a teleporter there. It is the Arrikitaun tavern. It is the dream of an Andalusian couple who had already been living for years in San Sebastián: Angel de la Chica and Mayca Madroñal. He, sevillian and supporter of Sevilla FC, takes care of the bar counter. She, also sevillian but supporter of Betis -both teams are everlasting rivals-, takes care of cooking. A disdainful cliché is that andalusians are lazy: tell them if you dare, because they work fulltime to make their business thrive. Now they are having off day on Mondays to rest a bit, but this week they will devote the day to talk with pintxos.es. Angel answers us as nicely as he is when he is pouring “rebujitos” (Sherry mixed with a soft drink) at the bar.

Let’s talk about cliches, Angel. What happened before: the Arrikitaun or “Ocho apellidos vascos” (a popular spanish comedy that plays around the Andalusian and Basque clichés).

We were first, the movie came later. We’ve been there for a couple of years. In fact, some tv broadcasters came here to report, after the movie premiere.

How did you come up with the idea of a Basque-Andalusian corner in San Sebastián?

I’ve been living here for 20 years, and my wife and daughters for 19. We did no do catering work, but my wife always wanted to set up a little Andalusian space, because there wasn’t one. That idea was always around, be we couldn’t develop it due to our daily works. But in 2012 we were fired and received a redundancy fee. We got in the business with that small money. We ran throughout the city, district by district, kicking the street searching for the ideal place. Rental charges and terms are the main problem…we found this one, it was closed, it took a lot to find the owner, but eventually we got it. I used to say that this place is like Galicia: it’s the world’s end. You go to Galicia and come back, it’s not on the way to anywhere, and beyond the Arrikitaun there is only an industrial estate, and a brothel.

You are in Igara, mainly a business and office area: Why did you choose this location?

Price was key. There was a real difference respect to other normal areas, and I am no talking about Center or Gros district, 50 or 60 percent less.