Chef's Table
Every year the same story with the gastronomic trends ; what will come and what will not. the openings, business models that will reinvent the wheel, the arrival of the messiah (which seems to be here), informal haute cuisine and the 'casual' format that we have been talking about for almost a decade; this sector seems to insist on being the vogue of eating but ours has more to do with the stomach and worldly pleasures. Fortunately.
And it is that, despite the fact that **“The future does not belong to anyone” (Cocteau) **, the journalist on duty shelters a need (slightly worrying, dear Esperanza Gracia guinea pigs) to anticipate the new and rise as the Nostradamus of newsroom , a sort of oracle of Delphi from the fudi of the provinces.
How lazy, if it's always the same.
Because our collaborator is right Carlos Mateos —You can almost spell those trends that are repeated year after year like prayers: ** cocktails , insects , _ veggie _, local products, sustainability, embers and the return of the room **, which at this rate will come when the flying bugas of Bladerunner.
So the truth is, I'm going to write another article (more) about trends, because why? Already set to play, better to play blind and bet on a handful of characters, places, warehouses and moments that, I suspect, will be part of our hedonistic journey; What is coming?
A CITY
** Valencia: ** It's wrong for me to say it, but (let me go I tell you!) in the same way that I've been pissed off to the core with that brick capital and Rafael Chirbes's crematoria, I have to admit that this luminous, Mediterranean and light (for good) Valencia is extremely exciting.
Especially in gastronomy: Llisa Negra by Quique Dacosta, Toshiya Kai's bar, Oganyo by Karlos Moreno, Yarza, Bao Bab by Raúl Aleixandre, Café Madrid or that monument to the product called Merkato.
One of the new essentials in Valencia?
A PATH THAT WILL BE
the door that has opened Danny Garcia (how clever he is: "my gastronomic restaurant does not account for even 10% of the Dani García group's income, but it takes 90% of my time") and that, we suspect, will not be closed so easily: that of the chef-entrepreneur versus chef-artist.
The archetype to follow will no longer be Ferran, Joan Roca or Michel Bras, but rather José Andrés, a creator of concepts and models whose ego does not need 'macarons', the new Michelin guide is called Netflix.
OF BARS, ALWAYS OF BARS
We will continue to go out for wine but the party will not last long if we do not wake up sooner rather than later: the democratization of wine or will that slow but inexorable decline continue . The wine will be popular or it will not be.
So, either the wineries and the rest of the wine sector understand that they have to open the windows (the screw cap, the drink in a glass, the acceptance of the bag-in-box and the wine to drink, not to store) or the beer will drive the final nail into our wine coffin.
If I have to choose a winery that will make us happy (impossible only one) let it be Luis Pérez and La Barajuela by Willy Pérez and Ramiro Ibáñez , it is wonderful what they are doing for the Marco de Jerez.
A COOKER
Because the gastronomy of Maca de Castro has exploded in a melting pot of common sense and an inward look, towards the island's pantry. Creativity, the fair risk and one more look thoughtful and calm in the face of so much nonsense and so much “little star”.
We really like Maca (hopefully this year will be yours at Madrid Fusión).
AND A RESTAURANT THAT WE DO NOT CONCEIVE NOT TO TREAD
** Rush! of Edorta Lamo**, in the heart of the Montaña Alavesa and which means the return of Edorta Lamo to its rawest and wildest roots, here we call it primitivism; "Poaching, crafts, the cult of the land, hunger, the mountains, the muga... will be basic components when it comes to practicing and disseminating our own gastronomy." We can not want more.
And that life goes on, and that Rem Koolhaas is right, “if you don't change, you don't evolve and you end up stopping thinking”.