The Portal of Echaurren: Paniego territory
If you think that the plan has nothing special, and that you can do the same thing any Sunday in La Latina, it is because you do not know FRANCIS, because you have not tried THE ham croquettes of his mother, Marisa, and because you have not yet drunk THESE beers. A single weekend in Ezcaray and three myths (+1) in the trash.
1- THE BEST CROQUETTES (NO LONGER) ARE MY MOTHER'S Like most of you, I have always believed that my mother made the best croquettes in the world. She would have bet what she did, she would have pulled out a cape and sword to defend them... Until yesterday. That the world came upon me. Although mother there is only one and I am sure that yours (like mine) are wonderful, there is no turning back: a bechamel this fine and a fried without a drop of oil on the plate not everyone can do . For something she (and not our devoted parents) was the first woman to receive the National Gastronomy Award . In her restaurant Tradition , you can try them, in addition to warming up with any spoon dish, some chickpeas with monkfish, some red beans to take off your hat or those Riojan potatoes. That is après ski , and the rest is nonsense.
Marisa Sánchez, the mother of all croquettes
2- I WILL (NEVER) DRINK BEER IN LA RIOJA I have never declared myself a brewer at all, in fact, my lack of love for this drink has cost me abroad, in addition to being branded as rare, a real pasture in glasses served with dollhouse meters and siphon soda. It goes without saying that it would never have occurred to me to ask for one in La Rioja, but if Francis Paniego tells me that I have to try it, I'll try it . And, at what time, because, for better or for worse, I have opened the box of thunder, the door of the path to the perdition of the only redoubt of alcoholic vice that I still resisted. And these are not just any beers.
These are two “signature” craft beers that are made in a factory in La Rioja and that bear the name of the two patrons of Logroño: ** Mateo and Bernabé **: the first, blonde and fresh Golden Ale type and the second , darker and sparkling Weizeibier type. As if that were not enough, the labels on the bottles are cool; So much so that I have kept them and I plan to find a function for them right away to recycle them at home.
Mateo and Bernabé: the beer that will unseat Rioja wine
3- THE STARS (NOT) ARE ALWAYS STARS You don't sit down every day at the table with a National Gastronomy Award, and when you do, you don't know very well what to expect, when other chefs (many of them who don't even reach the sole of their shoes) inflate their aura like real Hollywood stars. Francis is not a friend of self-promotion and, despite the fact that in 2012 he has won everything – he has collected the National Gastronomy Award, he has participated in Millesime, he has received his second Michelin star at the Hotel Marqués de Riscal (he already had another one here, in El Portal), and he is even managing to stick his tongue out at the crisis with his new restaurant, Tondeluna, in Logroño–, he has his feet on the ground.
In the kitchen and in life, he knows that the key to success is to be honest: “If you are not authentic, things end up singing” he says he when he talks about how to manage social networks. While we finish the last of the desserts of a 12-course tasting menu to frame , he rushes down a skimmed yogurt. "You have to take care of yourself," he says (what those from the dairy company would have paid to hear him). And he picks up soon. Tomorrow he has a visitor: his friend Ferrán Adriá comes to eat at his house and, as much as a National Award winner and as many friends as he is, I imagine that this has to make anyone nervous.
A portal with a star: Echaurren
. Although it redecorates our lives fantastically (and we all appreciate it), the best blankets aren't IKEA quilts either, but **mohair ones made in the Ezcaray factory**. They are natural, soft artisans, they are not heavy and they buy them at LOEWE or the Thyssen Museum to sell them with their logo. Here you have them from 65 Euros.
*And remember: if there is a place 'on fire' in Spain, it is La Rioja
The best mohair blankets are woven in Ezcaray
An afternoon with Francis Paniego ensures a rupture of myths