Pals and Vicus deserve a hundred visits

Over a hundred years ago, the Barris family bought a hostel in Pals, very close to the old town. It started with three rooms, but over time it became the town's café, dance hall, and cinema. Can Barris became the nerve center of a town notable for its historical heritage.

Time passed, and the grandparents grew older. Little by little, they abandoned the grandiloquence of their spaces and focused all their efforts on the hostel. For thirty-five years, the Café Barris, the dance hall, and the cinema remained closed until June 22, 2011, when their granddaughter Isabel, her husband, Gerard Geli, and chef Damià Rafecas opened the restaurant Vicus (neighborhood in Latin).

We're only five minutes from the walled city, yet quite far from the hustle and bustle of the tourist crowd. Vicus offers a free cuisine based on simplicity, carefully curated local produce, and Damià's personal touch. Rice dishes and fresh fish are some of their specialties, but we'd like to sample most of the menu, and we'll save that for another visit.

The start is promising with the appetizer olives from Xillu de l'Escala and Carles Beltran's artisan bread with Fontclara olive oil. We order the Iberian ham croquettes because we're told they're a must-try: creamy, tasty, sumptuous... A great choice! Now it's time for Marisa's tomato salad with seasonal fruit and overcooked tomato. Marisa is known to many customers because she runs a stall in Palafrugell and Palamós and has a farmhouse in Palau-sator with thousands of tomato plants where people also go to buy. We continue with the tuna belly and prawn salad from Sant Carles and the escalivated leek with vinaigrette, smoked eel, and Terrós de Masalva cheese.

Gerard controls the dining room and is the sommelier. He offers us a Masarac Empordà red wine from the Pujol Cargol winery called Con. A 2018 wine made with Cariñena and Garnacha Tinta, which, according to its creator, reflects the town, the people, the land, the vines, and the grapes.

A dinner to remember

We followed up dinner with a bluefin tuna tartar with tomato, nuts, and spices, and with the beef sirloin tartar with paprika mayonnaise and egg. The spiciness of the tuna tartar is natural: one mass Damià's version includes honey, herbs, hazelnuts, mustard, a spicy touch from a Japanese spice, and rounded off with tomato. The beef tartare is served with a fried egg on top. The taste of the fried egg gives it an excellent finish without spoiling the tartare. The meat is so good that it doesn't need any more. Dessert: lemon cream crunch from the Vicus orchard; Golany cheesecake with Lotus biscuit ice cream; and Santa Teresa toast with meringue ice cream. Coffees and sips to close out a dinner to remember.

We sit down with Gerard and Damià, Eli apologizing because he shares obligations with the hostel. "It's taken years to find local suppliers who can serve us consistently, but you can work with local produce. For example, the tomatoes are from Marisa, the beef from Girona, and the sprouts and other vegetables are from Hidenori, a Japanese farmer who lives in Pals," Gerard tells us. "Based on what the producers offer us, I think about the dishes we'll present to our guests," Damià adds.

Josep Pla said: "Pals deserves not one, but a hundred visits", now we know that Vicus does too.