Miguel Puchol: “We make our potato omelet with French potatoes and pasteurized Galician eggs; I don’t risk it with fresh eggs.”

BarcelonaRestaurateur Miguel Puchol (Barcelona, ​​1990), along with his in-laws, Mantequerías Pirenaicas opened ten years agoBack then, he never imagined he'd be a restaurateur, but life took an unexpected turn, leading him to create his first menu: sandwiches, Spanish omelets, and coffees. Everything was good quality, because it would be the bar where he'd eat, so he focused on what he liked. That's how the first Mantequerías Pirinaicas was born, at 460 Muntaner Street. Today, he has nine more, under the same brand, and another nine restaurants, each with a different style, with different partners, because Miguel is a generator of ideas, a master at finding locations and teams.

We interviewed Miguel at one of the latest restaurants he has just opened in the Gràcia neighborhood, La Brasa de Mantequerías Pirenaicas (8 Teruel Street). On one of the walls, as an emblem, It has framed the Catalan cuisine self-defense chart devised by the chef Jordi VilàIt looks great, and it's clear that they see it as a statement of principles, as other restaurants in Barcelona are also doing.

Brasa opened on Mercè Day, and the restaurant is packed. I see a very different menu from the Mantequerías Pirenaicas.

— It's a new concept for Mantequerias, yes, because I want to recreate the mountain grills, the kind of food we eat, like a good Catalan sausage, lamb chops, and eggplant cooked over embers. I'd say that grilling isn't traditional; at least, not like the kind I do right next door, wall to wall, at La Fonda. At La Fonda, I have noodles, macaroni, tortillas, and artichokes with fried eggs.

At La Fonda it's very difficult for me to find a table, unless I make the reservation a month or more in advance.

— I'm very happy with La Fonda, which we opened on June 19, 2024. I've opened La Brasa right next door to La Fonda, so that the latter can accommodate customers who can't find a table at the former. Reservations are required at La Fonda, while they aren't at La Brasa.

So one acts as a buffer for the other, so to speak. If I want to eat the Peking duck croquettes you serve at La Fonda, can I get them at La Brasa?

— No, no. We're close to each other, but each has its own menu and distinct dishes. At La Brasa, I have croquettes, which we make ourselves, but they're made with roast meat and fricandó (a Catalan stew). As you can see, at La Fonda we have Peking duck croquettes, even though we're a traditional Catalan restaurant. We allow ourselves certain liberties.

Like what others?

— At La Fonda we have crema catalana for dessert, but I assure you that for every crema catalana I sell, I get orders for ten cheesecakes. That's the reality. At La Brasa, I've served carquinyolis with muscatel wine and flan for dessert.

I noticed that La Brasa's menu doesn't include their signature potato omelet.

— No, there aren't any. There's a section for starters, which are very popular, and another for cured meats, which aren't very popular at the moment. I suppose people don't order them because, for the main course, they usually have grilled dishes.

I enjoyed the starters. Especially the fried eggs with sausage and the roast croquettes, which had a touch of sweetness, and the fricandó croquettes.

— They need to have a touch of sweetness so we can make them Catalan-style, that is, with dried apricots, pine nuts, and raisins. We wanted to make them to differentiate them from La Fonda. By the way, for the Peking duck croquettes I was inspired by the Topik restaurant, I tried them on and I liked them because they are amazing.

Where does the name come from?junk salad What do you have as a starter at La Brasa?

— It's a salad I had eaten before. at the La Rana de Sils restaurantI loved that salad! It has lettuce, tomato, onion, ham, and Iberian ham. It has the same name as it did there, and I was inspired by it because La Granota was the only restaurant where I ordered salad with my meal.

At La Brasa you can also find fish.

— Yes, and I don't even eat it myself. I included it because I thought it should be an option along with all the other dishes, which are meat and vegetable dishes, because we have eggplant, artichokes, and two salads: the trasto and the xató.

As we talk, I notice you know all the dishes from the ten Mantequerías restaurants very well, while also telling me about dishes from other restaurants. "The Bikini from La Fonda is inspired by the one at Auto Rosellón," you tell me.

— Yes, because we make it with rustic bread and caramelized onions, as well as ham and cheese.

How many restaurants do you have in total?

— Nineteen, but there are nine that I have with other partners. They are Trattoria Enriquetto, Apriori [Granada del Penedès street, 19], the burger places Two Patties, Fidelio Trattoria [Beethoven street, 14], Txiribita, which are pintxo bars and we already have three, and the Italiano Perso [Homer street.

At this point, do I have to ask you what the formula for success is for the restaurants you design?

— I think about three concepts when I open a restaurant. First, the quality of the products, which I always prioritize. I offer dishes and ingredients that I myself would like to eat. Second, the team I work with, which is good, very good. And the third principle leads me back to the first: when we opened the first Mantequerías with my in-laws, we structured the model as if we were customers, not restaurateurs. I'm not saying we've solved everything, because we're sure to make mistakes, but it's what works for us.

What professional field did you come from before opening the Mantequerías on Muntaner Street?

— I was finishing my degree in advertising, marketing, and public relations, and I used my final year project to work on opening a restaurant. My in-laws' premises on Muntaner Street had become vacant; we had renovated it, but they couldn't find new tenants. So, for my project, I brainstormed ways we could reopen it.

And he put his work into practice.

— Did you know that at the beginning we even made our own bread? I'm sure we spent more money making it than if we had bought it, but now I think that's what people liked.

Does she no longer make loaves of bread?

— No, it's impossible. We are ten Mantequerías! We buy them at the Bou bakery.

Do potato omelets only contain potatoes, onions, and eggs?

— Yes. Pasteurized eggs, I wouldn't risk it for anything in the world. I've followed what's happened with salmonella outbreaks at other places, and I wouldn't want that for anything. We make tortillas for takeaway, so I can't control what people do with them when they take them home. So, always pasteurized eggs. And it would be difficult to control it in the kitchens too, because we make so many tortillas. We use ten tons of potatoes just for takeaway tortillas.

And how did he make the trout?

— We always soak the potatoes in the eggs. Sometimes longer, sometimes less, but at least five or six minutes; the two ingredients are always together before we transfer everything to the pan.

Is it a potato omelet made with locally sourced ingredients?

— No. The potatoes are the Monalisa variety, from France. The eggs are Galician, which, by the way, are very expensive. Olive oil, sunflower oil, or mild olive oil. I made this choice because I think it gives us the best flavor.

The potato omelet he made at the Cercle del Liceu restaurant looked different from the rest.

— Because we always change our approach depending on where we are. At La Fonda we make a thicker potato omelet; there it's thinner.

The average restaurant bill is between 20 and 40 euros.

— I always check that they don't deviate from these prices, and I still sometimes feel like someone is telling me they're expensive. At La Fonda, we keep our prices very low. The same goes for La Brasa. The profit comes from the high turnover of platters. If you have a good product, reasonable staff salaries, and the rent for the premises, it's difficult to set prices lower than 20 euros. A thick slice of Spanish omelet with bread and tomato is five euros.

Would you say that potato omelets are in fashion?

— No, I wouldn't say so, but I do think the culinary level in preparing them has improved considerably. They're very good at Bar Bocata on Travessera de Gràcia; at Bar Lalans, where the writer Quim Monzó is a regular; and at Perancho in the Zona Franca. Of all of them, my favorite is the one at Bar Bocata.

Finally, what will be the next restaurant you open?

— I'm going to be a father in January; I need to put some things on hold and, above all, stabilize everything I have going on. However, I have another idea, which I'm considering because it needs time.