The restaurant that is a precision clock and that put Barcelona on a pedestal
Lasarte completes twenty years as the dean of the three stars in the city and preaching by example of excellence in the kitchen and the dining room
The butters of different colors like jewels, the bread cart, the impressive wine cellar, the exquisite service, the wrought-iron sculptures decorating the tables... If anyone wants to try a restaurant with class, elegance, and where all the dishes will be excellent, perfect, and well-rounded, what you are looking for is called Lasarte. This year it celebrates twenty years of existence, a not insignificant figure in current times when haute cuisine is suffering. The restaurant, located in the Monument Hotel, was Barcelona's first three-Michelin-starred establishment. Since 2017, when it achieved this, the city now has four.
There are several particularities that make Lasarte a special project. Firstly, its gastronomic director, Martín Berasategui, already had three macarons – as stars are popularly known – in his restaurant in the Basque Country and achieved the feat again in the 'Comtal' city. Berasategui received the offer from the Cadarso family, owners of the hotel, to take charge. He had rejected other proposals, but he accepted this one. Surely the key word was “family”. In the book that went on sale on Sant Jordi's day this year and was unequivocally titled Lasarte (Montagud Editores), the word that appears most has nothing to do with gastronomy – or does it? – and it is family. In the volume, bottle-green in color, large, the kind that looks good on shelves and that we will surely see decorating many restaurants, each of the artisans who have steered this transatlantic ship in the right direction is presented. In addition to having carefully chosen photos, it also contains a selection of iconic recipes from the restaurant.
There are three proper names, however, that justify Lasarte's good standing. Three soldiers who are on the front line every day. Firstly, the Venetian chef Paolo Casagrande. He has achieved several milestones. On the one hand, giving the restaurant its own personality. On the other hand, having his name also appear on the marquee. He is, therefore, the one who wears the epaulets in a frank and open manner. Casagrande also directs the gastronomy of the Oriobianco restaurant in Calp and has just opened the Osteria Condal restaurant, with the same partners from Calp, on Paral·lel, where the Ticket-Teatro restaurant used to be. There, a more informal version of Casagrande's cuisine can be tasted.
The orchestra director
Another proper noun that is fundamental to Lasarte's project is that of Joan Carles Ibáñez. The head waiter that anyone would want to have. He has the right measure of things. As formal as he is approachable. Attentive, diligent. “The great service is what goes unnoticed – he writes in the book–. That it is in the right place, appears at the precise moment and, when necessary, gives a smile”. Ibáñez was already accustomed to excellence at Can Fabes, alongside Santi Santamaria. He was able to continue developing his know-how from the Lasarte dining room. In the same way, the sommelier, Antonio Coelho, arrived thanks to Ibáñez, with whom he had coincided in Sant Celoni. Coelho had an offer to go to Singapore, but he preferred to return to work with the best orchestra conductor in Barcelona.
Lasarte is a restaurant where desserts are not complementary. They are not dishes that deserve less attention than savory ones. That is why they also have a top professional in charge of the pastry section. This is Xavi Donnay, a pastry chef whom we can associate with names like Jean Luc Figueras or Jordi Butrón's Espai Sucre. To finish, it's no use doing it brilliantly if no one finds out. Inés Vázquez, who has also been there from the start, takes care of this. Probably, the stability of the team contributes to making everything run smoothly and reinforces the family idea that Berasategui likes so much.
To celebrate these two decades, in addition to publishing a book, the restaurant has also organized three dinners with other guest chefs. The first two have already been held and the third will be in September. In the first, Casagrande hosted Sven Elverfeld (Aqua, Germany) and Juan Amador (Amador, Austria). The second was the turn of the Italian Da Vittorio. And finally, the last dinner to celebrate the anniversary will take place on September 16 and will feature Eneko Atxa (from the Basque restaurant Azurmendi) and Nacho Manzano (from the Asturian restaurant Casa Marcial). Reservations are open.