Certain houses are accessed with a look at ground level. The Asador Etxebarri is one of them. It has nothing to do with the position it occupies in the listings or the stars it has on its facade. It is more related to respect with which newcomers must pass through the doors of the tavern of a people to which they do not belong. And that is exactly what this house is. That the foreigner between chin up and taking for granted the lessons that can be learned in it can mean more than one gastronomic setback in the jaw. Dozens of westerns prove it.
There are several that are learned between the walls that Bittor Arginzoniz, a true bartender from the West, bought in the Plaza de Axpe (Atxondo, Bizkaia) in the 90s and filled it with forges. The first, that the shade is also a habitable territory for cooks; the second, that sharpness in a kitchen can be as disconcerting as it is familiar; the third, that if you are looking for the best local product, 500 km is not a long distance.
Bittor Arginzoniz.
Bittor is a self-sufficient man. If he wants to temper caviar or walk eels on the grill As softly as he walks to remember, he invents a dozen gadgets that open (without knocking) the gates of hell. If he wants to serve vegetables, he grows them himself. If he wants to offer fresh buffalo cheese, he brings the animals from Italy and raises them in his farmhouse.
If what he wants is a good chorizo, he doesn't limit himself to buying it: he goes to Guijuelo so that the Joselito sell him prey and secret, and also reveal how to do it. Of course: he puts the chorizo peppers.
ROUND TRIP
It did so 30 years ago, when Axpe did not appear on any map other than that of the few souls that were born on it. And so it began the relationship Etxebarri-Joselito that even today materializes in the tasting menu of the Biscayan restaurant and to which he has honored the seventh edition of Joselito Lab of the house of Iberians, a culinary laboratory which aims to "explore the possibilities of the Iberian pig in the cuisine of different gastronomic cultures". It is told by José Gómez Jr., the brand's brand manager, on the restaurant's trellis terrace before a tasting menu as high as the top of Anboto.
Tear peas with Joselito bacon.
The firm from Extremadura began with chefs who had achieved three Michelin stars: Ferrán Adriá, Massimiliano Alajmo, Jonnie Boer, Seiji Yamamoto, Joachim Wissler, Yannick Alléno. Spain, Italy, Holland, Japan, Germany and France have preceded the return home of the laboratory of good walks, in which the awards have given the shine to the product: “And there is no restaurant where you can find a better product than in Etxebarri”, confesses Joselito's after taking a sip of the beer also made, of course, by Arginzoniz himself.
MASS FOR AN ANIMAL
When what welcomes you at the table is a table of precisely the famous Bittor sausage , it is the same table that stands firm. An aperitif that sets the tone for Etxebarri's culinary discourse, which is none other than a requiem for the product. Here, above all, you come to eat well. The third best restaurant in the world is not lost on trifles. Neither does the cook nor does his dining room team, which also includes his wife, Marta, and his son, Paul.
The sausage is followed by semi-salted anchovies (he cleans, debones and cures them, very meaty) on crunchy pork fat that after crackling in the mouth melts in seconds. The fresh and unsalted caviar flavored by the grill rests on fat textured pork chop in one of the best and most delicate passes on the menu. To variegated, dark, shell-bordered, It is embraced by a veil of Iberian jowls tempered on the grill. A delicacy of baby squid from Ondarroa lies on crispy crumbs of pork rind and a streak of ink. The wake made festival.
The seasonal mushrooms with pork nose , always Joselito, and highly scented aubergines from the grill demonstrate the affection that Arginzoniz puts into what springs from the earth – the intense, tasty bell pepper that accompanies the cod kokotxa deserves a special mention. The grilled egg yolk with white truffle and a touch of chorizo fat it is exquisitely simple, like that traditional txistorra tale that the chef recovers and makes a version of with a Joselito tuna belly and feather tartare lightly grilled on a base of dehydrated corn powder. Tasty in itself, but redundant in the sequence of dishes.
Chop ‘Supernatural’ Joselito.
The culmination of this Iberian experiment is starred by a pork chop from Extremadura aged (not matured) for 60 days along with the pieces of house ham in their natural dryers. Tender slices, with a less forceful flavor than expected, with a certain aftertaste of dried fruit. A succulent surprise. “Supernatural”, they call it. That yes, Bittor plays at home and does not resist taking out a steak from North as tradition dictates, culinary irony that José Gómez Jr. receives with humor –and a sip of the portentous wines that Mohamed Benabdallah is in charge of distributing in the room– given the circumstances.
SOTTO VOCE KITCHEN
Neither the smoke from the coals nor the fog of the ego at any time blur the purity of the formidable raw material that is handled in Etxebarri. There is no opacity in their elaborations. Yes, a sotto voce cuisine that even finds some eroticism in that whisper. The sacred, whether in the village tavern or in a temple, needs some sensuality. L Guijuelo's promise new editions of Joselito Lab, but his flesh has already reached heaven in the fires of Axpe.
The embers, the essence of Etxebarri.