BarcelonaI interview chef Àlex López (Banyoles, 1992) at his restaurant Arraval (c. Marquès de Barberà, 22), which opened last November. It's 7 p.m., he's just finished dinner, and he's getting ready to start the day's service, which is always early evening, except on Saturdays, when they also serve lunch. The restaurant is bright and located on a side street off the Rambla del Raval. A few meters further on is the legendary Bar Cañete. Arraval is one of the best options for Catalan cuisine in the Raval neighborhood, along with Suculent and Ca l'Isidre. The average bill is 50 euros, and it seats between forty and fifty people, in addition to a private room for twenty-five. Àlex, a good conversationalist, I met last summer at the Alkostat del Mar restaurant, inside the Finca Victoria hotel, located on Sa Riera beach, Begur.
Is your training school the chef Jordi Vilà?
— Yes, him, and also the chef Paco PérezI worked with Jordi Vilà for nine years, across several periods. It all started because one day I wrote to my friend Philippe Rigol and asked him if he thought restaurants FracasLucerne or Alchemy They needed someone to do an internship. So, of the three I had thought of, it was Alkimia, when it was on Industria Street, where it earned a Michelin star.
And how long were you with Paco Pérez?
— Two seasons. From Paco Pérez I learned rigor, what haute cuisine is all about, serious work, and the standardization of quality. During my time there, we worked with molecular gastronomy. It was the time when El Bulli was serving its last meals.
What have you learned from Jordi Vilà?
— I must say it was love at first sight when I met chef Jordi Vilà. From him, I learned the purity of the ingredients. The art of sofrito. Cooking from scratch to the very end. The importance of kitchen cleanliness. I've immersed myself in Catalan cuisine, in the evolution he himself has undergone since starting at Alkimia on Carrer Indústria to Alkimia on Carrer Sant Antoni. He's made a natural progression, aiming to bring Catalan cuisine closer to people through different approaches. For me, he has been the ultimate inspiration.
What were your responsibilities when you worked at Alkimia?
— I was the head chef. I was there for three years, and then I wanted to take a break to further my training. I enrolled in dough-making courses at the Sabadell school and did an internship with the baker Daniel Jordà. The world of bread interested me, and that's why I wanted to delve deeper into it. Then, last year, Vilà called me and offered me a job at Alkostat del Mar in Begur. We'll be back this year. The season starts on March 26th, and we'll be there until October.
Will you combine Arraval and Alkostat del Mar?
— Yes, the whole team will be combining both projects. Last October, when we closed, my main concern was keeping the team we had built, and that's when the owners of Finca Victoria offered us the opportunity to manage Arraval, the restaurant at a hotel they also own called Casa Teva. All of us who worked at Alkostat del Mar during the summer have come here.
We talked about the dishes in Arraval. I had a very good dinner. I really enjoyed the meatball with fries.
— When I was deciding on the menu I wanted to create at Arraval, I asked myself what I did best. And what I do best is Catalan cuisine. And from Catalan cuisine, I thought especially about recipes from Barcelona. So, three dishes immediately came to mind: the bomba, which isn't on the menu yet, the bikini, and churros with chocolate.
Does Barcelona have its own cuisine?
— I think so. And I think the bikini is a very Barcelonan dish. We make it with onion soup.
It's one of the dishes I've been recommending to everyone who asks. What other dishes are typical of Barcelona cuisine?
— The stew. We make it every day. And we have broth, which we offer in a cup to start the meal. Also, with the meats I used to prepare it, I make a pate en croûte (pate in a crust), which we serve in slices. When you taste it, you recognize the meats of the escudella, you recognize that it is one of our dishes, wrapped in a bread dough, which is what this dish is.
And with the meatball from the stew, you make another dish.
— I make it the way they do at the Hispania restaurant: large and long, and I add rasalhanut spices. We cook it inside the escullada (a traditional cooking pot). And when it's time to serve it, we reheat it in its broth.
I've seen pine nuts inside the ball.
— Yes, we'll put it on.
Another dish we should talk about is macaroni.
— Instead of making noodles in the casserole dish, we opted for macaroni, which is also a very Barcelona dish, like cannelloni. In fact, I already made it at the Monocrom restaurant, and the response was very positive.
Alex, I see you're happy with the work you do.
— Yes, I am, because I like this new chapter I've begun. After years of working for Jordi Vilà and Paco Pérez, I'm happy to offer a new space in Barcelona. I always say that to change the hospitality and gastronomy industry, we have to be involved. I feel like I'm racing to take the reins from a generation of chefs who are at the forefront and who are very good. They still have a long way to go, but I'm right behind them.
I'm sorry you're getting your hopes up about the future.
— When I was younger, I was impatient. Now I'm in no hurry. What concerns me now is retaining talent, building stable teams. And yes, I'm excited about the future, and I think Barcelona is a fantastic city for great food.