"Don't ever leave us!": the cry of the Motel Empordà clients

Figueres“Never leave us!”, shouted a gentleman. “Return!”, “Hospitality!”, “Main festival!”. The public shared what they thought of when they thought of Motel Empordà. We are at this pilgrimage site on its 65th anniversary. On June 4, 1961, Josep Mercader inaugurated this temple of good cuisine and culture just outside Figueres. Culture understood in a broad, generous, and deeply rooted way.

It is not surprising that we are surrounded by writers, musicians, and even actors who will perform a play, Pla per Roigthe mythical cheese trolley which, this one, has always been present in the roomThere is Paco Pérez, Fina Puigdevall, Manel Puigvert, Joan Juncà, Jordi Jacas, and Joan Roca. For the Girona-born chef of El Celler de Can Roca, the Motel is the place where they have managed to "make simplicity coexist with excellence. When the so-called Nueva Cocina Vasca was starting to work in the Basque Country, here in this house, the new Catalan cuisine that is now a spearhead internationally began," he states.

Jaume Subirós has spent the most years here. And now he is accompanied by his children and even his granddaughter Paula, who diligently serves the appetizer trolley, the first star dish for everyone who went there in the 1960s. At the party, there were some of the iconic dishes that are no longer made today. Although who knows if they will return in the future. There is the appetizer trolley with pickled sardines, deviled eggs, and Russian salad. But also the crudités. Later, the mythical cheese trolley, which has indeed always been present in the dining room.

of the Motel", says journalist Joan Safont.

A concept that is still alive

“Today we celebrate two important things, the 65th anniversary of the Motel and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Josep Mercader. Sometimes I think that if the Motel is already 65 years old, maybe it should retire. But then I remember that I have also been here from the beginning and I think about not insisting on the matter anymore”. Subirós says it jokingly, of course. Because he is perfectly flanked by the family that continues the business. Besides, if that were the case, the partygoers would cause a commotion. “We are groupies of the Motel”, says the journalist Joan Safont.

An idea that lives on

“I arrived there on June 24th. The day after finishing school, for Saint John's Day. I was 11 years old, I would turn 12 in September. I didn't think I'd still be here 65 years later. And that we would get this far and meet to celebrate it. There are people who have ended up being family. Today I don't think so much about numbers or recognitions as about people. If we have reached 65 years it is thanks to many people. Today we remember Josep Mercader. Many things that continue to happen in this house began with an idea of his. An idea that, fortunately, is still alive. His clear, clean, and forceful school,” says Subirós.

An example of this school can be found in a text that Mercader himself wrote, shortly before he died, which the writer Miquel Berga reads aloud to us. He said that thanks to reading Josep Pla, he glimpsed that "if the fishermen brought any fish, we could make a stew, that if the women brought vegetables from the small gardens of Llançà, they could be combined with a piece of beef from the French side and we would have a good stew. That with a dried codfish and a few potatoes, a good meal could be made. I found it explained in such a simple way that, over time, I have understood that in cooking, the simplest often becomes the most difficult".

A simple and complex cuisine. A cuisine born after years of hunger and "rationing books", with a French touch, since Mercader worked in France, where he got ideas for dishes that were then modern and are now classics. A combination that makes sense in the voice of Miquel Berga, the writer Josep Maria Fonalleras, and other cultured men who have eaten at the Motel every first Friday of the month. They estimate about 480 times.

Here, culture is found on the plate, on the screen, and on paper. Jaume Subirós's daughter, Sílvia Subirós, has just presented her book also on this anniversary, Josep Mercader, the creator of the Motel (Perfils Empordanesos, Cal·lígraf). In it, she defines Mercader, whom she never met, "as an invisible backbone", and describes the building as a "space full of remnants, of voices, of gestures that are still there even though they are no longer seen". As a child, she thought that "everyone had a hotel, everyone talked about cooking, and everyone talked about Josep Pla". She dedicated herself to cinema: she is a documentary film director. Hence her documentary 'La cuina dels homes', which she has now expanded with the book.

In response to a question from Clara Sánchez-Castro Bonfill, presenter of the event, journalist, and singer of habaneras, Sílvia Subirós's perspective offers the best reading of the intangible value of this place. "Now everything is like a product. You go to a hotel, a restaurant, a trip, a city, and everything is consumed. And at the Motel, it doesn't happen as much. People talk about food, but also about how they feel there. It's part of my grandfather's legacy of hospitality, which my father continued, and my brothers too". 65 years have passed at the Motel, even though time stops there.

The Empordà Cake, made of sponge cake, Grand Marnier, apricot jam, and burnt sugar, is served. A classic recovered for the occasion. The person in charge of lighting the candles is one of the most veteran workers, Joan Manté. He recounts his job interview with Mercader, where his parents were also present. It was 1979. Mercader asked him, "When do you want to start?". And Manté, young and impetuous: "Tomorrow itself". Mercader replied: "Start on Monday, and this weekend tell your friends you'll stop seeing them". "Why?", Manté asks. "Because you'll work weekends and holidays. But don't worry, you'll earn new ones".

Joan Manté, with his whole family, Albert, Jordi, Lluís, Sílvia, Paula and, of course, Jaume Subirós and Anna Maria Mercader, blow out the candles. It is the second day of celebration for the Subirós-Mercader couple, as the day before they were in the gardens of Palau de Pedralbes, where Jaume Subirós received the National Gastronomy Award. The best award, however, is to see so many familiar faces gathered at the Motel, in the heart of Empordà.