The maître Abel Valverde, the chef Óscar Velasco and the sommelier David Robledo
Exactly three years ago Santi Santamaría left us (2-16-11) and just six months ago the lights of Can Fabes went out after three decades of commitment to gastronomic excellence. A complicated time —at least for the Santamaría family, but we still have Santceloni, the beacon of its gastronomy at the foot of the Hesperia on Paseo de la Castellana.
Santceloni is a special place for all of us who love the "old school" of grand restoration , the one for which (they say) there is no place. The four legs on which Santceloni stands (tradition, technique, service and product) were —and are, for so many gourmets—the direct translation of what we understood as a "great restaurant": the team made up of Óscar Velasco in the kitchen, Abel Valverde in the room and David Robledo in the cellar as the three tenors of that gastronomic orchestra whose wickers are excellence and pleasure.
Selection of Santceloni cheeses: pure vice
"Excellence in service and cooking and the pleasure of the diner. These are the principles that guide us," Abel Valverde (best maitre of the year by Club de Gourmetes magazine) tells me, and somehow the concept of "luxury" that today seems to be changing from its most generic meaning —Wealth, sumptuousness, abundance of unnecessary things— to a luxury more focused on the artisan, the essential, the human : the time, the emotion and that "sitting to read on the shore" of our beloved Thoreau.
We eat and talk: Has the paradigm of luxury changed, Abel? I ask him. "I think that in part not, luxury as we have always known it, continues to exist and will continue to exist. It is true that a more informal luxury has appeared on the scene, not so classic, but everything will depend on what luxury is for us. ", indicates. "Going to a gastronomic restaurant is? I have clients who save all year long so that they can come one day to enjoy an experience is our home, this is priceless".
Eating at Santceloni is another story, from the table to the plate
Meanwhile, on the table, the first dishes of the Great Menu (180 euros plus 70 euros of the basic pairing and 39 euros of that cheese board which is absolutely essential) of this eternal two-star Michelin contender for the third (in my opinion, it is a book three): roasted Figueras onions, tripe from Madrid and marinated mackerel with wrinkled potatoes, lemon and coriander; starters harmonized with a majestic Manzanilla in Rama Sacristy AB.
Banana, coffee and toncka bean flavored whiskey
unbeatable the smoked ricotta ravioli with Petrossian caviar , preceding the squid and dehydrated tomato soup with two Finca Allende Mártires and —perhaps the best wine of the night, a grüner veltliner from Pichler Loibner Berg '05. Before the main courses, we talk about the past, present and future of Santceloni, a few steps from La mesa Fabes: "Our present has been marked, since the loss of Santi, by taking the reins of the restaurant. During this time we we have stopped investing, kitchenware, table setting, decoration, the Cigar Club (a space designed for cigar smokers), our first oil and our cheese, Sprit de Santceloni", he comments.
The main dishes arrive (yes, in this restaurant they still believe in them): the dentex with roasted spring onions —absolutely perfect in terms of execution and product, a ten and a classic from the house, one of Santi's great works: white veal shank with mashed potatoes and a Planetes de Nin from Priorat. Taste, technique, emotion and terroir. One of the best dishes of Santi and therefore of Madrid and therefore of the world.
Smoked ricotta ravioli with Petrossian caviar
Is there room for this haute cuisine in Madrid? The problem with haute cuisine, they say, is that it is excessively expensive. I do not believe it. What I do believe is that what is high (what is authentic) cannot be measured with Stars or Suns or glazed cellars. I'd like to think that luxury will survive (despite everything and despite everyone, like that orchestra of the Titanic that will continue playing its score until the end) is the one that reminds us that beauty, truth and excellence exist; and that everything else, deep down, is just a trick.
Cigar Club: drinks, cava and some smoke