Barriteca: traditional tea shop in the Poblenou neighborhood

When Urruti saved Mágico González's famous penalty, securing a La Liga title for Barça eleven years later, Ferran was barely a toddler. It was March 24, 1985, when thousands of Catalans heard the unforgettable phrase popularized by the legendary Joaquim Maria Puyal, who, from Valladolid, exclaimed "Urruti, I love you!" to celebrate the Barça goalkeeper's historic save in the 87th minute. Now, more than forty years later, Ferran López, owner of La Barriteca, a home-style restaurant in Poblenou, offers a dessert on his menu with this name: "Urruti was a regular at a restaurant owned by some friends in San Sebastián, and he always ordered this dessert [orange juice, vanilla ice cream, and Grand Marnier]," he explains. Barça and gastronomy are his two great passions. Throughout his life he has been able to learn from some of the best chefs, such as Paco Pérez or Martín Berasategui, until finding a place in Poblenou where he could make the project he had always dreamed of a reality.

"I really like everything that's retro or vintage"And we immediately fell in love with this place, which had been a restaurant for thirty years," Ferran recalls, gazing at the walls of La Barriteca, which is designed like a renovated classic wine cellar. "He's always been very interested in our gastronomy, he loves Catalan cuisine, and now he makes a spectacular fricandó and capipota," he acknowledges. And that's why we've come today, to see for ourselves that this small neighborhood restaurant serves good home-style cooking.

Let's do a "Urruti, I love you!"

We read the menu while savoring some crispy and flavorful Soria bread rolls, which we're compelled to order again. We share the Catalan "bomba" (filled with shredded meat, Catalan sausage, and spicy romesco sauce), the cod cheek and green pepper omelet with pil-pil emulsion, the pig's trotter and apple ravioli with roast chicken and Iberian ham sauce, and the red prawn stew with its suquet (a type of fish stew). To accompany the meal, Ferran recommends a bottle of Alma del Priorat 2024 from the Casa Gran winery in Siurana (DO Priorat). We also share the main courses: truffled cannelloni of Penedès rooster with foie gras sauce, and a creamy dessert of cheek Black Angus beef with parmentier made of potato, which literally melts in your mouth.

Dessert is a must, and in this case we refuse to share it: a "Urruti, I love you!", a crema catalana and a cheesecake in sauce of caramel sauce and crumbleWe thoroughly enjoyed the teak, and we also want to enjoy the conversation with Ferran while Satoko finishes service with Inés, the kitchen assistant, and Raquel Callao, who, along with Ferran, handles customer relations, is still around the dining room: "I never would have thought I'd be in the dining room after so many years of cooking, but I love it, I love this cuisine; it will never go out of style," he explains happily. They've settled in wonderfully in the neighborhood, and some of their customers have become friends. This is thanks to their friendly service and the love they convey for our traditional cuisine.