El Celler dels Avis: the memory of a neighborhood cooked over charcoal

On the restaurant's walls hang a multitude of old photographs of Sant Andreu. They started it all. They had vineyards in the Trinitat Vella area, and that's why they decided to open a winery in the neighborhood. The customers have influenced the restaurant; they have shown us the path to follow. A dish that they liked, a dish that we kept on the menu," they both confess.

A menu that has a clear objective, to satisfy the diner with very good products, and with classic dishes of Catalan gastronomy, and adds: first we decided on local dishes such as xató (with escarole, cod, bonito, anchovies, olives and romesco sauce), cod esqueixada and we also shared a portion of acorn-fed Iberian ham and a beef carpaccio with cheese. The rice, attention, Ester's phrase about the grill and Jaume makes us order the extraordinary lamb ribs for the main course (they serve eight!), the pig's trotters with beans and the hearty dish: half a sausage with beans from the crochet, bacon and half a black sausage. The two and the restaurant recommend the house wine, "it's a blend of dry Priorat and sweet Priorat. It used to be made this way, and they called it bota wine, and we maintain the tradition here. This one you're drinking is from Tarragona." Dessert: Catalan cream, vanilla ice cream, and profiteroles

Ester and Jaume know that Celler has its day. Their eldest daughter, Iris, is dedicated to music, and their youngest, Paula, who was born four months before they opened the restaurant, did so with a slight disability they hadn't expected. "Everyone in the restaurant knows her. She sits with me in the kitchen, I play music for her, and she has a great time," says Jaume.

But beyond the dishes, the embers, and the walls full of memories, Celler is above all the heartbeat of Ester and Jaume. It's the home they've built together, with the same love with which they look at each other after so many years and with the same complicity with which they serve a dish or uncork a bottle of wine.

He could retire soon, but Ester still has years of work ahead of her. "We'll leave together, we'll both leave hand in hand. We can't imagine the restaurant without one or the other."

When one day you decide to turn off the stove and lower the blinds for the last time, it won't be a forever goodbye, because your story will live on for every customer who ever toasted at your tables. El Celler is not just a restaurant, it's the memory of a neighborhood, the reflection of a shared life, and the best reminder that there are loves that, like fine wine, only improve with age. La Bodega de los Abuelos is the best tribute to life.