The gastronomic map of Ibiza has decided to get out of the canons of the healthy and the cult of the body with a cuisine that prefers to think of meat and forcefulness. Without squeamishness and without apologizing. Like Lydia's Smokehouse, a restaurant that replicates the typical barbecues of the southern United States, a gastronomic trend on the rise in cosmopolitan cities that had not yet been seen on the island. "No one had dared to do this around here," he says. Cesar Galan , one of the owners of the restaurant and who is always aware of everything that happens in the kitchen. "It's a matter of controlling fats, cooking that takes many hours and even days –(I have to sleep here sometimes to be aware!–, work with rarely seen pieces and make dressings for each of them , it's not an exact subject so you have to be fascinated by doing it".
For a long time we have been hearing that "there are two Ibizas". It is true, but in reality, there is more than one. The most famous and stereotypical it is one of techno, chill outs and bottles of champagne served by the sea. And well of DJ's. Another turns to the healthy lifestyle , meditation, solitude in deserted coves and love and peace. Although there is one more than anything against the current among all of them going unnoticed. It's the rock & roll one, the one obsessed with vintage, the ibiza scoundrel rising daily as a community that loves the island both in season and out of season. A better Ibiza? Not exactly, just one who dares to think differently. And to eat.
Galán is the chef of the house but he was his partner, John-Malek , the culprit that the barbecue was put on his culinary map. They met working together in a hotel restaurant and It was a request at the wrong time from Malek that twisted things for Galán . "One night he went into the kitchen when we were already cleaning because he hadn't eaten, so I made him a hamburger, which was the easiest thing. He practically told me it was shit," he says between laughs.
"She fucked my ego but also he invited me to a barbecue at her house, so I couldn't help but go to see what was going on. I already tell you that that was not a barbecue, that was a temple of the asado". And it was, because Malek had experience in the matter, having studied in Georgia and having learned all there was to know to turn meat into a true southern dream either. "I went crazy and that's when he started teaching me."
The barbecue that is forged in Lydia's has nothing to do with the one we know in Spain, this being one that continues preparation protocols that last for days, smoking the meat with different types of wood and at a very low temperature.
"The combustion of these barbecues is through woods such as cherry or hickory (oak) ", explains Galán. "In the smokehouse world it is very important with what you make the fire since that will make the meat taste in one way or another." Those of their hamburgers are imported from Germany and are made to achieve the variety known as smash burger , which are very thin fillets that are served in a double formation inside a brioche bread, capable of holding everything without collapsing. Although they also have snacks like the eight-hour-smoked buttermilk loaf with pickles, sweet mustard, cheddar cheese, and grilled onions.
Instead, their barbecues are made with guijuelo pig . The pulled pork (back of pork) is roasted for nine hours and hydrated with a barbecue sauce made with mustard that works as a dressing, while the queens of the house are their pork ribs , slightly spicy and roasted for four hours with cherry wood.
The cooking, condiments and elaborations are carried out by Lydia's, but the raw material is supported by the island producers to achieve the perfection they seek. "We promote local agriculture a lot. We are from here and we greatly respect the farmers in the area and their products," explains Galán. "For example, our potatoes they are of San Miguel area . It is a place where the sun stops shining around three in the afternoon, which results in a juicy and tasty potato. It is very similar to the one from Betanzos, in Galicia, and has a taste of wet sand."
In eight months Malek and Galán they have sold 25,000 hamburgers . "We have been closed for many months – now the regulations have allowed them to open their terrace – and we are working only with home delivery." It is half of their turnover (they also have takeaway), so they began to consider a strategy to reach the entire island, from a lost cove to a mountain or trail.
"We work with local platforms such as Green Delivery or Ibiza Runners, but we have also put our H arley's and suv's ", adds Galán. And they distribute even in the water, even reaching the boat of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon . "One of our burgers came to him through his sailors and he ordered thirty of them for his ship. In a way, we have become an icon that gives a very humble product the same importance that would be given as if it were haute cuisine".
John-Maleck and Cesar Galan
Continuing with their project of retaking the island to the rhythm of rock & roll, in a matter of three months the owners of Lydia's are scheduled to reopen the place that, for 60 years, has been the roadside bar most mythical of Ibiza.
"We want to remember the biker roadside bar with American breakfasts, rock bands playing at night, monumental barbecues that are planted on the table to share with friends and eat with your hands", they advance us. "We have a tremendous illusion and we want to help promote the annual economy of the local with businesses at a good price", they continue. "Honestly, we do not believe that Ibiza has to be a place where you have to spend €80 every time you want leisure".