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

BarcelonaThe restaurateur Miguel Puchol (Barcelona, ​​​​1990), together with his in-laws, opened Mantequerías Pirenaicas ten years agoAt the time, he had no idea he'd become a restaurateur, but life took a turn leading him to create his first menu: sandwiches, potato omelets, coffees. All good, high-quality dishes, because it would be the bar where he'd go to eat, and so he focused on what he liked. Thus, the first Mantequerías Pirinaicas was born, at 460 Calle de Muntaner. Today, he has nine more under the same brand, and nine other restaurants, with different styles, with other partners, because Miguel is a generator of ideas, of finding locations and teams.

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

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

— It's a new concept from Mantequerias, yes, because I want to imitate the mountain embers, what we eat, like a good sausage, lamb ribs, and an eggplant also cooked on the grill. I'd say that grilled food isn't traditional; at least, not like the one I do next door, wall to wall, which is La Fonda. At La Fonda, I have noodles, macaroni, tortillas, artichokes with fried eggs.

I have a hard time finding a table at La Fonda, unless I make a reservation a month or more in advance.

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

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

— No, no. We're right next to each other, but each has its own menu and dishes. At La Brasa, I have croquettes, which we make ourselves, but they're roast beef and fricandó. You see, at La Fonda, they have Peking duck croquettes, and that's despite the fact we're a restaurant that serves traditional Catalan cuisine. We allow ourselves certain liberties.

What else?

— At La Fonda, we have Catalan cream for dessert, but I assure you that for every Catalan cream I sell, they order ten cheesecakes. That's the reality. At La Brasa, I've served carquinyolis with muscatel and flan for dessert.

On La Brasa's menu I've seen that their signature potato omelette isn't available.

— No, there aren't any. There's a starter section, which is very popular, and another section for cold cuts, which aren't ordered too often at the moment. I suppose people don't order them because, afterward, the main course is grilled dishes.

I liked the starters. I especially liked the fried eggs with sausage and the roast beef croquettes, which were slightly sweet, and the fricandó croquettes.

— They have to have a sweet point so we can make them Catalan-style roasted, 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 at the La Rana restaurant in SilsI loved that salad so much! It has lettuce, tomato, onion, cured ham, and Iberian ham. It's the same name I had there, and I was inspired because La Granota was the only restaurant where I ordered a salad for lunch.

At La Brasa you also have fish.

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

As we talk, I notice you're very familiar with all the dishes from the ten Mantequerías restaurants, while you tell me about dishes from other restaurants. The Bikini at La Fonda is inspired by the one at Auto Rosellón, you tell me.

— Yes, because we make it with country 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 [19 Granada del Penedès Street], the burger bars Two Parties, Fidelio Trattoria [14 Beethoven Street], Txiribita, which serves tapas and we already have three, and Italiano Perso [19 Homer Street].

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

— I think about three concepts when I open a restaurant. First, the quality of the products, which I always put at the forefront of everything. I put on the menu the dishes and ingredients that I would like to eat. Next, the team I work with, which is good, very good. And the third principle leads me to the first: when my in-laws and I opened the first Mantequerías, we structured the model as if we were customers, not restaurateurs. I'm not saying we've got everything figured out, 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 took advantage of my final project to complete a project to open a restaurant. My in-laws' establishment on Muntaner Street had lost its tenant; we'd renovated it but couldn't find new tenants. So, for my project, I thought about how we could reopen it.

And the work, he put it into practice.

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

Don't you make the loaves of bread anymore?

— No, that's impossible. There are ten of us! We buy them from Bou's bakery.

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

— Yes. Pasteurized eggs, which I wouldn't risk for anything in the world. I've followed what's happened sometimes with other establishments with salmonella infections, and I wouldn't want that for anything in the world. Keep in mind that we make tortillas to take home, and then I can't control what people do when they take them home. So always pasteurized eggs. And it would also be difficult to control it in the kitchens, because we make a lot of tortillas. We use ten tons of potatoes just on takeout tortillas.

And how did you make the trout?

— We always soak the potatoes with the eggs. Sometimes for longer; sometimes for 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 omelette with local ingredients?

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

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

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

The average restaurant bill is between 20 and 40 euros.

— I always check to make sure they stay within these prices, and sometimes I still feel like someone is telling me they're expensive. At La Fonda, we adjust our prices a lot. Also at La Brasa. The benefit comes from the high turnover of tables. If you have a good product, reasonable team salaries, and reasonable rentals, it's hard to set prices lower than 20 euros. A large slice of potato omelet with tomato bread costs five euros.

Would you say that potato omelets are in fashion?

— No, I wouldn't say that, but I do think the culinary level when it comes to preparing them has greatly improved. They're very good at Bar Bocata, on Travessera de Gràcia; at Bar Lalans, where the writer Quim Monzó always goes; at Perancho, in the Zona Franca. Of all of them, I like the one at Bar Bocata the most.

Finally, what will be the next restaurant you open?

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