Adeu in Can Tosca, living history of Gràcia

BarcelonaSome bars are like entire lives. For Imma, Rosa, and David, Can Tosca is inseparable. This temple of hearty breakfasts and set lunch menus in Barcelona's Gràcia neighborhood is now witnessing the Sánchez Tosca family, who have run it for over 75 years, close its doors for the last time on Thursday, October 30th. A loyal clientele will be left feeling lost, even making room in their freezers and ordering capers so they can savor the fricandó and meatballs once the kitchen shuts its doors forever. Located on Torrent de l'Olla street, next to Travessera de Gràcia, the bar is a part of the neighborhood's history. Imma and Rosa's father took it over in 1949. Back then, it was called Reus. He renamed it Nuevo Reus. However, Enric died soon after. His wife, Conxita, took the business on her shoulders. At 30, a widow and mother of two children aged 2 and 4, she had never worked in a bar. But more than six decades later, the full tables of Can Tosca testify that she succeeded.

Imma and Rosa, who are now retiring, have played a significant role in the business's longevity, having started helping their mother from a very young age. "We grew up here; we've spent more hours in the bar than at home," they explain in conversation with ARA, sitting at one of the bar's tables. Along the way, they reminisce, there's been everything. In the beginning, the bar was the epicenter of the Gypsy quarter of Gràcia. "Pescaílla, Lola Flores, Moncho, Peret... all came here," they explain.

However, the numbers just weren't adding up. And in the early sixties, Conxita made a radical change. She renamed the restaurant after herself – Tosca – and started offering set menus. Rice with rabbit and snails, cod fritters, zarzuela... "Mostly slow-cooked dishes," says Imma. Today, the formula hasn't changed much, and among the most popular dishes are the meatballs, the calluses or the fricandó. "Traditional dishes that we've kept and people appreciate," says Rosa.

Conxita's formula is soon a success, and queues form at the door. People come even during the town's main festival, when there was still no air conditioning and the heat inside was intense. Proof of love from a loyal clientele for good food. Imma and Rosa start working full-time with their mother. The family grows. And the new generations also grow up surrounded by the bar. Among them is David, Imma's son and Rosa's godson.

The new generations

He grew up around these tables, where his grandmother had even pulled one of his loose teeth. He remembers the time when the place was packed every weekend to watch football, and the time when they were open at night as a bar. The photos that fill the walls of the bar, with family memories and old pictures of Gràcia, date from that era. Vestiges of a neighborhood that never stops changing.

He's been fully dedicated to it for over a decade. These days, many customers are pressuring him to stay on at the helm of Can Tosca, but he's certain that without his mother and aunt, it wouldn't be the same. After a year on the market, they've finally found a buyer they're happy with. The place will change hands and name, but the new owner wants to preserve its spirit, as he's done with other bars in the city. He'll even keep some of the photos on the walls. "It makes us happy to know that whoever's taking it over wants to preserve a bit of its essence," the three of them say.

This will come later. Before then, there are still days to go for breakfast and lunch at Can Tosca. Until Thursday, October 30th, in the afternoon, when they'll be offering a complimentary glass of cava with a special house touch to their loyal customers, who for weeks have been wondering what they'll do from now on and joke that they'll be making a pilgrimage through Gràcia looking for a new home. One of them, while paying for his coffee, looks at the reporter and emphasizes: "We'll miss you a lot." God willing.