The stool is back. Although he may never have left, the arrival of the great gastronomic liners seemed to relegate him to his usual paradise: bars. However, the bar is back and no bar can be called that without a good stool.
“The stool is a staple of our establishments because we have always believed that the bar is the best possible table,” says Kim Díaz, owner of the legendary Bar Mut, Entrepanes Díaz or the recently opened Bodega Solera (Còrsega, 339, Barcelona) and its comfort cuisine dishes in Barcelona, places where the stool is the protagonist. “To find the furniture we needed we walked through antique shops, second hand markets and – basically – everywhere. In the end we found a lot of wonderful stools, of all colors and styles. “We are happy with it,” says Díaz, who is finalizing the opening of his new location, . “In which there will be many stools,” he warns with a smile included.
It is very possible that the origin of the stool is in the Middle East, in Egypt, 5000 years before Christ. It was furniture used mainly by the upper classes and its legs were often sculpted in animal shapes. The most valuable was discovered in the tomb of the 18th dynasty pharaoh, Tutankhamun, and was found among the objects that made up the magnificent grave goods of the pharaoh’s tomb. It was made of ebony and ivory, and Tutankhamun wore it at special times and events (not at a bar). In fact, the use of the stool in those times was directly linked to royalty. It is clear that times have changed and the stool is now more transversal than the love for chocolate.
Very far from Egypt is the Rabbit’s bar (Carrer Ganduxer, 16, Barcelona), another of the most successful newcomers in the upper part of the city of Barcelona. In fact, Rabbit’s is a bar. A classic with a modern, 360-degree look where high-end croquettes and a delicious Russian salad are served, but in which prawns and prawns and other fresh merchandise are also displayed, ready to make even the most skeptical salivate, with the diner being the center absolute world thanks to the layout of the establishment.
Back in the capital of Catalonia, chef Eugeni de Diego has done it again and if he is already famous for his mischief with pasta at the Lombo restaurant (Carrer de Moliné, 1, Barcelona), now he has stools and a small bar, but fabulous, in the (very) sought-after Colmado Wilmot (Calvet, 28, Barcelona). The cuttlefish ragù, one of the juiciest omelettes in Barcelona, the meatballs and a resounding fricandó arrive from the kitchen at lightning speed and once again it is confirmed that the bar is the best table in the place. The great news is that they open for breakfast and the worst thing is that the stools rest at night, following the course of other establishments in the city, such as Ultramarinos Marín, which only serve breakfasts of fork [de tenedor, más contundentes que el colacao y la pasta] and they don’t open for the last meal of the day.
Diego himself is clear about why there are things that never change: “For me, bars and stools are the best way to interact in a bar at meal time. Everything becomes a more informal act in which in the end you end up talking and sharing with the person next to you, that magic does not happen in other cases. The customer experience in a bar is more direct with the kitchen or living room and that makes it much more enriching and dynamic,” he says. Dani Carnero points out the same thing, who has revolutionized Málaga and the Costa del Sol with his restaurants, and who with La Cosmo (Císter, 11, Málaga) has won over all those who still believe in the religion of the stool. “We still like them a lot because, as I have said before, the bar and a stool are the couch of the 21st century: people sit and while eating they express themselves freely, they feel comfortable with the person next to them, they They generate all kinds of conversations. That’s why we like them so much.” At La Cosmo they eat mortadella, gilda, salad or sea bass, in such fiercely creative versions that it’s hard not to fall off your stool.
In Valencia, the bar has become very popular among the locals. Bar Cassalla (Bon Orde, 19, Valencia), which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and where garlic chicken croquettes, cuttlefish with all and oli, Iberian meatballs, artichoke and rice dishes reign supreme. A place with sturdy stools, seasonal food that threatens to become an instant classic. Along the same lines, but in Bilbao, is the Txocook (Pío Baroja, 5, Bilbao), a Biscayan cuisine establishment, with a spectacular display of skewers and an unconditional love for high stools. From there you can see low-temperature broken eggs with mushrooms, the delicious rabas or the tomato salad from baserri with black garlic and evoo: a must-see for anyone traveling through the north of our country.
In the capital, Madrid, Sara Aznar and Nacho Ventosa run Los 33 (Plaza de las Salesas, 9, Madrid), one of those places where to get a reservation you have to have patience and will: everyone wants to go and no one wants to. leave. In this restaurant with the soul of a bar, always packed spaces and a grill that never stops working, the stool has (re)conquered the Madrid night. Beyond its overwhelming cocktails and its live DJ, in the guts of this place you eat classic tapas and meat sprinkled with Uruguayan nuances and there is no better bet to understand why a good bar can end up being the heart of a good restaurant. “We Spaniards like bars and stools because they are an extension of the living room, an informal meeting point where you can stop for five minutes or five hours. Have a coffee or eat a steak. The truth is that everything happens in that controlled chaos that bars generate and I think that’s why we always look for them and enjoy them so much,” says Ventosa.
And to finish this stool tour, a colorful, different proposal, which is gaining fame by leaps and bounds in Menorca. Is about Nopales (Carrer de Sant Sebastià, 2, Menorca), a 100% Mexican bar that focuses on the classic stool and the dishes that have turned its homeland into a global gastronomic reference: enchiladas, tacos and burritos that seem to have come from the very streets of Mexico City and a bar that no longer serves supply, to let yourself be carried away by tequila, mezcal and cold beer, which have their own section on the menu. Ultimate demonstration that there is no sea, ocean, desert or distance that resists the ambush of the stool, after all, who can imagine a better refuge?
#stool #21st #century #divan #restaurants