“Dabiz is not going to cook. He is only going to answer the questions you send », warned José Carlos Capel at the beginning of the presentation. The Diverxo chef appeared, greeted, took the glove and made himself available to the public. The most choral interview that the Madrid genius has granted began. One of the star presentations of Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España 2022 began.
-Ravioxo opens in May. What will it be? Vanguard or die?
Ravioxo began as a tribute to the 15 years of Diverxo, where we began in 2007 to make the first plated dumplings and with which we have been developing a very transgressive concept in what has to do with steamed ravioli. A concept that over the years has transcended. Well, Ravioxo is going to take that legacy and it’s going to be much more, starting from the world of pasta but adding some of our XO madness. A dialogue between Italy, Spain, China and Argentina, why not. Something traveler but very different from what we have done so far.
-How can you mix 5, 10, 15 ingredients in a dish and have harmony?
-Creativity is difficult to explain. I understand cooking as a set of ingredients that dialogue in a balanced way in the same dish. I cook more with my head than with my hands. There are dishes that we take out that I don’t get to try in its entirety, but that I have already done in my head. If we think about what a suquet or a stew is, it is the conjunction of many ingredients that create something balanced. That is our kitchen.
-You have a “mental palate”. Could you cook blind?
-I would be able. Yes.
-How can you lead the life you lead and continue with your creativity?
-After 15 years of good things, the only way I have to continue is looking for new challenges. I want to change the location of Diverxo and Streetxo, and I am going to open Ravioxo. It is that: new challenges to continue advancing. Because the best is yet to come. That’s the attitude.
-How many people are with you in the creative process?
I don’t have a creative department. But I have very powerful teams worldwide, people who have been with me for many years who help me with those creativities.
-What advice would you give to a young person who wants to dedicate himself to cooking?
-Devoting yourself to the kitchen has many paths. When I started, the world of cooking was different. If you were a cook, they told you that you would not have a personal life. And that is changing. Now you can develop your profession in a brilliant way and be happy without dying working.
– Will you write a book?
-I would like to. It seems incredible that he does not have any yet. But I need time, because when he does, I want him to break the rules. And that time has not yet come.
-Could you cook without smell?
-Yes. I did it during the pandemic. She had no taste or smell.
-If you had to choose one last dish…
-I will say three, linked to three people whom I admire and who have marked me. Abraham García’s eggs with truffle, Gastón Acurio’s ceviche from La Mar and any of the foie gras dishes that Aduriz made.
-Your greatest success and your greatest failure?
-Of success I would not know how to say because many beautiful things have happened to us. Deep down, I hope that the greatest success is yet to come. And, the other, I have never failed. I may have been wrong but I have not failed. If I am where I am, it is because we have had the ability to get up when we have fallen. I am very proud of that.
-What do you think of the criticism they make of you? And the ones from when you raised the price?
-For the price, the critics have mattered little to me. It’s my restaurant, and I set the price I want like any private business. When we thought about raising the price, we did an analysis: Diverxo had always lost money and we wanted to improve the conditions of the people who worked with us. My reflection was clear: if we didn’t fill up by putting this price, Diverxo would be unreal. If people didn’t come with this price, we shouldn’t exist.
Due to the criticism in general, in these last two years I have lived my best moment, both professionally and personally. My way of relating to colleagues and gastronomy has also improved. When you open a restaurant at the age of 27, nobody teaches you to be an entrepreneur, to lead a large team or to be a public figure. Nobody prepares you, and the digestion has lasted. I started going to a psychologist, who helped me undo knots and focus on things in the right way. Being always in the eye of the hurricane is wonderful many times but it has a part of pressure and mental management. And I have not always known how to deal with that management.
Do you have dreams in the kitchen?
-Everyone. The first, to make the new Diverxo. As I imagine it, it will be a restaurant that will break down barriers. I’m not going to tell more, but it will be a twist to what we know.
– Is there a vanguard? It’s over?
– Avant-garde means something that opens a new path in any artistic discipline. There are still vanguards today, and others have been converted, but vanguards will always exist. For years, we have linked it to only one very specific innovation. And there are other types. Surely there are young people sitting here today who will be the next to open new doors.
-Think of a menu from now to serve in 2050.
-They could not miss some good croquettes and cooked. They are two of my favorite dishes. No matter when, I always like to eat cooked.
How far are you willing to sacrifice?
I don’t set limits or borders. I have one of the best teams in the world. We have changed the company in recent years. We have incorporated talent and we are growing, because that is important. For a restaurant to be powerful, it needs a lot of people around it trained in other fields so that people like me can dedicate themselves to cooking. And everything has to be economically and humanly sustainable. It must be clear that a restaurant will only survive if it is profitable. It is a sine qua non condition.
-Favorite fish?
-Stripe
-Favorite ingredient?
-Olive oil and chili, and chili.
-The future of haute cuisine?
– Let everyone interpret it as they want. Before, it was thought that haute cuisine had to be one way. Now we see that it can be developed in other formats.
-Tortilla. With or without onion?
-Without. The problem with poached onion inside an omelette is that it adds sweetness, and organoleptically the sweetness does not match the egg. Potato, egg and oil. Nothing more.
-The future of your brand?
We’re going to keep breaking up. We have more projects that will surprise you. Making a delivery or a food truck has already been wonderful, but there will be more surprises.
-What is inspiration?
-To be happy. The happier you are, the more inspiration you have.
-What did you have for dinner last night?
-I did not eat dinner. She had a full restaurant.
-Keep one of your dishes.
-I prefer two: the rabbit and the carrot, because it was the first dish I made at Diverxo, and the backwards salad with grilled fish. Creatively, it’s very good.
#Dabiz #Muñoz #cook #hands