The Appetizer: Crudo by Piscolabis, Madrid
In a compact space, an entire world of artisanal cheeses and natural wines fits thanks to the savoir-faire of Annet Guevara. She herself makes it her business to visit every fair she can in order to stock up on products she can explain in detail. They can be local or from elsewhere, such as the personalized cheese boards she offers for take-away or to enjoy on her chic terrace. Conceived as an informal project, with modest prices but proposals of exquisite taste, such as her Flor del Torcal, from Antequera, or the Albacetean Moluengo, which seems to ooze as if it were a molten coulant, these features make this nearly-new neighbor on Ortega y Gasset a perfect place to savor the end of the day. Because the cheeses are accompanied by a selection of wine by the glass, which Annet also selects and changes frequently. And no, there are no conventional labels.
The Main Course: AMA Tolosa, Basque Country
I was keen to discover the minds behind this Tolosa project in Gipuzkoa. Expectations were high, and the chefs Javier Rivero and Gorka Rico, breakout chefs in 2023, did not disappoint. Their cuisine is deeply linked to the land and its producers, to seasonality, to the market, and to an absolute respect for the product—aspirations that today may sound hackneyed or even cliché, but at their stoves they feel genuinely real. Here they head to the Tolosa market on Saturdays and to Ordizia on Wednesdays to source much of the delicacies that will feed the six tables in a venue that only offers five services per week.
For my part, a comforting old-chicken broth laced with a boned wing fried in tempura and lemon cream served as the welcome to a menu (€150 or €175) that tastes of heritage, respect, and homeliness. Because there are many tributes arriving at the table, such as the honey from the Aralar range (with cauliflower foam, kale, spinach bread, sprouts, and ajoblanco on the plate and a kombucha made with Eutsi Honey and natural pollen on the rim of the glass) or the leek (in a trilogy where the finale is its version of the northern classic porrupatata, and a bold leek kefir). They also honor traditions with a dish titled ‘the Sunday corn,’ an intense sea-and-land creation that pairs corn bulgur with rabbit broth, rabbit pâté, a grilled sea urchin, and mussel foam. Their hake in ear broth, rich in collagen, has already become a staple, as has their devotion to local sheep, presented in a carbonara.
