"There is no weird food, there are weird people." Almost everything that surrounds this Zaragoza restaurant starts from here. This phrase, pronounced years ago by Ferran Adria in different interviews, inspired a couple of gastronomy professionals who, after training in Aragonese cooking schools and working in several restaurants for the spanish geography, They returned to their native Zaragoza. They left behind, for example, eight years running the restaurant Barahonda (Yecla, Murcia) and the recognitions obtained in it.
A gastronomic restaurant in a working class neighborhood Saragossa, Located in an old mechanical workshop, it did not take long to attract the attention of the neighbors. “Only rare people would dare set up something like that" count Sophia and Christian, the protagonists of this story and the comments they heard in the neighborhood.
Rare People, Zaragoza. Inside of the restaurant.
RARE, THE DEFINITION
Until five meanings of the adjective “raro, a” provides us with the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of Language. All of them seem applicable to this hospitality business.
Rare is something that “behaves an unusual way." Isn't it rare for a couple to leave a job fixed and consolidated job to start your own business?
Rare is also "extraordinary, rare or frequent” Certainly, do not abound business models like this in Zaragoza, a medium sized city not used to this kind of proposals gastronomic.
Caramelized walnuts in mead, with Ras el Hanut.
It is "rare" according to the R.A.E. “low in its class and species”. They opened a gastronomic restaurant in a modest neighborhood in the place previously occupied by a mechanical workshop.
Rare also means "distinguished, outstanding or excellent in its line”, so it can be said of a place that in a few months of operation managed to place itself among the most outstanding restaurants from Saragossa.
The fifth meaning is “extravagant of genius or behavioral and prone to singling out. Haute cuisine with popular meats, such as rabbit or offal are traits of Gente Rara, a singular choice that takes them away from the usual offer of these types of establishments.
Rare People, Zaragoza.
THEIR CREATORS
Cristian Palacio and Sofia Sanz they are the soul of Gente Rara, but they don't let the spotlight focus exclusively on them, and from the first moment claim the team that they have managed to form. A team young and educated which works in full view of all diners.
The wines occupy an unconventional warehouse, located in the glazed office of the old mechanical workshop. A tall cellar, stocked and captained by a talented sommelier, Felix Artigas, who handles more than 300 references in constant rotation, since most of its wines come from limited productions.
Cheeses in Gente Rara, Zaragoza.
THE WALK AS A GASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCE
A spacious room receives the diner, and it is at the reception itself, with a salty chocolate and a glass of sparkling wine, where the a tour of different points in which a delicious refreshment is received. In a sofa you are offered the menu and an appetizer while you choose the menu. Once the waiter takes his order, he invites you to visit the orchard, a kind of greenhouse where you can taste some seasonal product and a cocktail.
Upon completion, the ultimate table it will be ready. Hopefully, near the central kitchen and view, the best place to see how the chosen menu is being prepared. Insane, Crazy and Lunatic are, from short to long, the names of the three options available.
Optional is to add a pass from the fabulous cheese cart captained by Sofia, one of the points powerful of the Rare People offer.
PHILOSOPHY
Many ideas focus on your proposal: eating is a pleasure, also a trip, even an aesthetic experience that, in addition, can be loaded with values: sustainability, support for small projects agroecological or the use creative of less noble parts of the foods are some of them.
Rare People, Zaragoza.