Audience: An extraordinary performance to deal with the best

Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Vivien Leigh, Katharine Hepburn, Paul Newman, and many others were often found at number 30 Enric Granados Street in Barcelona. Younger Barcelonans reading this might be amazed, but older folks will remember that Vídeo Instan, arguably the best video rental store in Spain, was located at that address. Many of us discovered the best of Hollywood cinema by buying and renting films on VHS or Beta.

Now, however, we've found a restaurant where the food is truly exceptional. The main players are Albert Bocalandria, executive chef (Catalan); Aziz Aoulad, cook (Moroccan); Andrés Arancubia, head waiter (Bolivian); and Miguel Ángel Espinosa, sommelier (Argentinian)—an international team working together to cook us with seasonal and locally sourced ingredients.

Let's start with an oyster with beef fat emulsion. It's a recipe originally created by Martín Berasategui and revived by Albert. A little gem that fuses the oyster's salinity with the meat's fat, creating a memorable contrast. We continue with classic dishes from our cuisine, such as roasted peppers, grilled and caramelized in the oven, and cured sardines in sauce. tonnataFigs and hazelnuts that remind us that we are in autumn and a dish of different varieties of tomato with Perrins sauce and pepper.

The sommelier asked us to let him create a special pairing, and we agreed. Here are the credits for this little masterpiece: La Rama, from Sanlúcar de Barrameda; La Bruja, from Terra Alta; Les Comes, Montsant; Giro de Abargas, Alicante; 3.9, Pla de Bages; and a red and white Garnacha from Espolla, aged since 1931 and served by Miguel Ángel himself from an antique demijohn. A brilliant choice!

We resumed our meal with the first Maresme peas, grilled with crab and squid stew; mushrooms from Petràs (a mushroom company based in Olesa de Montserrat) with cured egg yolk and Iberian ham; a dish of grilled artichokes and squid with Lourdes water; and fresh pasta ravioli with wild boar tail and saffron milk cap mushrooms. Desserts are almost always the grand finale, and the Audience's choice perfectly complemented the script and the impeccable performance (flan, hazelnut textures, and a Santa Teresa toast with vanilla ice cream).

"We love our job"

While we were discussing the film and choosing the best lead and supporting actors, Albert Bocalandria, the Francis Ford Coppola of the Público restaurant, arrived: "We want people to enjoy themselves, to feel that we cook for them, and to give them reasons to come back. We love to cook, we love our profession." He said this with the honesty of a chef who, along with his team, gives his all to ensure the diner's happiness.

The culinary offering is extraordinary, unpretentious, but with a very high level of product and execution. Cinemas and restaurants are two spaces to enjoy, and soon we'll have to consider whether the chefs, producers, sommeliers, and their team deserve to be recognized as the eighth art.

Forty-five years have passed since Jenaro Depares founded Video Instan to bring the best films from around the world to thousands of Barcelona residents. Back then, we only talked about the Oscars, but now the Público restaurant would be our favorite to take the Gaudí Award for Best Film to Enric Granados Street.