Dspeakeasy, the new project by Diego Guerrero
One morning in September. **Madrid. Barrio de las Salesas.** Many streets still wake up shaking off the remains of August.
However, at the corner where Fernando VI, Pelayo and Campoamor streets meet Diego Guerrero and his team have been running at full capacity for a month.
The reason? ** Dspeakeasy ,** the restaurant that promises to become –until the season formally arrives– the most acclaimed opening of the fall.
But what is Dspeakeasy? “To start with, I'm going to tell you what it's not: it's not DSTAgE,” says Guerrero.
The Basque chef's flagship, which has two Michelin stars , is located a few meters from Dspeakeasy, but the only thing they share is that D –of Diego? how funny? different?– that embodies and treasures his unmistakable identity.
“We will let time define it. It's us, doing things the best we know how, in another format”, says Guerrero.
Celeriac with egg and mushrooms, mix before serving
IRONIES OF LIFE
“When I came to work in Madrid at the age of 20 this place was a cocktail bar which was very fashionable, it was called Speakeasy. I tried to come once and They never let me in because I was wearing sneakers. ”, Diego tells Traveler.es
Two decades later, that boy from Vitoria who was left out is the boss of all this. "Now I go in clogs, and I walk from Dstage to Dspeakeasy in my apron."
"Hello! We are the upholsterers!” is heard from the door. Diego smiles with a “and like that all the time” face. Because it's never quite over. There is always some detail to polish when it comes to an opening.
The idea of doing something new came naturally. “After five years of DSTAgE, we wanted to do something different, after all, it is what enriches us and teaches us”, comments Diego.
From that first idea to the opening of Dspeakeasy, about six months have passed. "We're fast, it's that if I don't get cold," jokes the chef.
Diego Guerrero at 'Table 0'
WTF IS DSPEAKEAY?
We take the question that Diego often wears on his shirt, but this time to ask him about his new project: What is Dspeakeasy?
"As I've said before, It is not DSTAgE, but they are family, very close as well. Identity and values are there. We are what we are and our nature is what it is, but that does not mean being repetitive”, comments Guerrero.
“dspeakeasy is complementary to DSTAgE and precisely what we want to do are things that we can't do in DSTAgE. What it is not and I don't want to be called is second brand,” he continues.
Without going further, here is a letter –opposite the tasting menu of the bi-starred DSTAgE–, whose offer reflects a cuisine deeply rooted in the stew and the product , but at the same time, it is not usually seen.
“I cannot call it a traditional cuisine restaurant, nor avant-garde cuisine, nor a themed restaurant. It is a restaurant where you eat rich and period ”, he concludes.
The plant part comes from three different valleys of the Farm of the Crows of Galicia –at the rate of three weekly orders–.
“Now, for example, a tiny cabbage is going to come in, which you eat simply boiled with a little oil and garlic and a Beasain black pudding. It's like I would eat cabbage at home,” he says.
Shall we meet at Dspeakeasy?
THE COMPLEXITY OF THE SIMPLE
Preparing a very avant-garde dish and presenting it as such has its degree of difficulty, we are not going to deny it. But the really complicated thing is conceive a dish that requires a lot of technique and effort, but whose result has a simple appearance.
that is precisely what they get behind the marble bar by Dspeakeasy , because the kitchen is integrated, that was unquestionable: “we love to interact with the client”, adds Diego.
And to show a button. We randomly choose a dish from the menu and read: beans with piparras and tuna tripe. "You understand everything it says, but tell me a place where you can eat some white beans with tuna tripe," says Diego with an enigmatic face.
Then, if nobody really does this, can it be called traditional? "Yes, it's simple, but different," he adds.
In the menu we also find the already famous –thanks to social networks– cured cherrys, with chives and frozen raspberry.
A very fresh and natural salad that at first glance seems simple, but only at first glance: “The chive smoothie is a fermented one, the tomatoes are peeled and cured in salt and sugar and we finish with a touch of frozen shelled raspberry”, explains Diego.
Cured cherries, with chives and frozen raspberry
AT THE LABORATORY
All dishes are generated in Guerrero's particular laboratory, Dspot. "Having the muscle of the workshop has helped us a lot to be able to do this without DSTAgE suffering."
In fact, it was necessary to adapt the brain and concentrate the efforts in creating the identity of Dspeakeasy. “At first we came up with a quite radical letter, as more avant-garde, but something did not quite fit. That was not Dspeakeasy”, says the chef.
And precisely, the turning point was marked the cherrys. “We did a reset. We started again. And the cherry salad was born. Simple, direct, rich, juicy, visual and, of course, different”, judgment.
This is how the first Dspeakeasy dish came about. From there they shaped things from the previous work and saved others for later.
Frozen raspberry, the final touch of the cherry salad
TO EAT IT HAS BEEN SAID
Diego's favourites? A lots of: celeriac with egg and mushrooms, sardines with ham, white beans, snouts with Norway lobster, sole, roasted picantón...
"The other day I tried the robata pigeon thighs off the menu And what can I say about Raquel's pastrami, it's wonderful”, lists the chef.
Yes, in Dspeakeasy there is also off card. And it wasn't planned either. "But it's that way of doing things that also defines us," he says. Diego while he fits the last letter of the old cow tartar into the cork That completes the three off-chart this week.
“There is pressure, there always is. We are very happy with the expectation generated but suddenly you feel in the eye of the hurricane”, he comments. When we first introduced Dspeakeasy, About a hundred reservations began to come in daily without being open yet, ”he tells us.
But within that pressure bubble, they move with three things clear: "This is about having a good time, doing it very well and leaving time to time," says the chef.
Melon pickle with ham and duck ham
THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM HERE
"When they asked me 'what do you want Dspeakeasy to be like?' I was clear: I want it to be the restaurant I would go to every Sunday."
The sentence here is: "there is always room" . "Although if one day there is not, it will be a very good sign," adds Diego.
And that "there is always room" translates into a daily restaurant, to come with friends, family, as a couple or even to work on your computer while you bite something.
And of course there is also room for dessert, especially for another of the most successful: the tocinillo de cielo.
pickle is king
WOOD, MARBLE AND THE DSPEAKEASY POINT
The interior design follows the same pattern as the dishes: simple on the outside, thought to the smallest detail on the inside.
Everything very clean, very Nordic, with chestnut wood tables and chairs –made by another Basque, Ibai– and minimalist lighting; although with some other house brand brushstrokes, such as the snail that adorns one of the windows (whose previous habitat was Dpot) or the luminous knife (a gift from a former dstager) .
A table catches our attention, because it is different from the others. “It is table 0. A Danish piece from the 50s that I bought at the Rastro, just like the clock on the wall”, Diego tells us.
Dspeakeasy, the new restaurant that is revolutionizing Las Salesas
“It is neither the best nor the worst, it is simply my table. If I wanted Dspeakeasy to be the restaurant I would go to eat on my holiday, why not set my own table? has its grace ”, he tells us.
And it makes sense: from there you can see the team in the kitchen, the customers, the front door. “It is like the typical table that the gangster would have in his Italian bar in New York where he is eating his spaghetti”, jokes Diego.
Although he confesses to us that he has already come to eat several times and when he is busy he sits at the high table: "Maybe it turns out that in the end I'm more of a stool," he adds with a laugh.
"It's us, doing things the best we know how"
DPICKLEROOM: THE COOLEST AFTERWORK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
In the lower part of the premises, we find the cocktail bar that promises to revolutionize the Salesas neighborhood: Dpickleroom , which will open from 5:00 p.m.
It is an afterwork where have a drink or even nibble on something from their snack menu, which revolves around the world of pickles , based on pickles and fermented.
To open mouth? delicious rolls (such as carabinero with jalapeño), pickled mussels or a melon pickle with duck ham , why not.
Low tables, leather sofas and posters on the walls – many taken from Diego's own house – make up the decoration of this new place to be.
In summary, Dspeakeasy is Dspeakeasy and the only way to understand it is knife and fork in hand. This fall, we meet at Las Salesas.
Dpickleroom, the cocktail bar that will become your new afterwork
Address: Calle de Fernando VI, 6, 28004 Madrid See map
Telephone: 913 19 54 35
Schedule: Dspeakeasy: Tuesday to Saturday, midday and evening service. Dpickleroom: Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm.