Synonyms of solera: roots, roots, roots, tradition, antiquity, old age, character. They all serve to bring out a new culinary interest, the charm of the old bars in the cities or that of traditional restaurants – a concept that young chefs are increasingly betting on – in a clear resurgence of the flavors of yesteryear.
Food houses with roots, bars that could tell thousands of stories or families that have passed down the trade from grandparents to parents and from parents to children until it became an institution, new establishments that delve into the origin and seek to update the recipes they They are history of this country. “We want to celebrate those who have remained faithful to the flavors in which several generations recognize themselves. All the establishments share a common philosophy that is nourished by the environment and the heritage received, so current in small towns and cities and that in recent times has spread this roots to the big cities and to a part of those who are launching their businesses.” says María Ritter, director of Guía Repsol.
In this tenth edition, presented this Monday in Córdoba, tribute is paid to sites that have resisted for decades, faithful to the same concept. Some of them are centuries old, such as Casa Enrique, in Granada, Casa Montoliu, in Tremp (Lleida), or La Taberna de Antonio Sánchez, in Madrid, where there is a sign announcing that Alfonso XIII’s favorite torrijas were made there. The bars also receive recognition where the product, customs, decoration, and even the accent of regular customers and the staff explain the history of the place. Cafes and pastry shops, such as Antigua Pastelería del Pozo, in Madrid, La Barraqueña, in El Barraco (Ávila), La Tradición, in Córdoba, or El Molino, in Vigo, have a very special representation this time. Because, according to the Repsol Guide, the oven that best makes the typical sweet in an area also deserved recognition.
In the same way, young professionals who have opted for tradition and who will wear the distinctive yellow solete on the door have their space, as is the case of Zuriñe García at El Txakoli at El Paladar, in Portugalete (Bizkaia). Projects that have just begun with the aim of rescuing taste memory, as is the case of Mario Pizarro and David Ripalda, in Matria, in Jerez (Cádiz). Or those chefs who use their grandmothers’ recipe books and reopen closed businesses, as Alejandro González and Saúl Medina have done in La Majada, in Artenara (Las Palmas). Those who take over the family, as is the case of the grandson of Rafael Ordóñez, founder of the Rafaé Tavern, in the Cordoban Jewish quarter. Even those who add imagination to their sandwiches and make sandwiches with meat from their own farms and bread from local bakeries, as is the case of Chichalovers, in Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña),
Many of the bars, restaurants and cafes that have obtained the distinction work out of conviction in a sustainable way, because that is also what tradition consists of. With these soletes, the aforementioned guide also undertakes a journey through time, to images from another era: those found in the Taberna Terrón, in Badajoz, where they have the menu in pesetas; in Silvestre de Vila-Real, in Castellón, where you can try a medieval menu; at the Hostel Pinós, in Lleida, which houses a hostel from 1524, or at Gafiq, in Benalcázar (Córdoba), where the diner sits at a stretcher table with a picon brazier.
