From Salvador Dalí to Albert Serra: Via Veneto remains 'the place to be'

BarcelonaA boy, Pedro, is playing football in the courtyard of his house. They live above a restaurant run by his father, Josep. In the courtyard there is a warehouse where the father keeps the restaurant's wines. The ball goes off course and, with a bang, hits a bottle of wine. In the blink of an eye it turns into a pile of glass shards, while the wine gushes out and makes a puddle on the floor. They know it, they are not allowed to play football. The father of the child is devastated. The wine he had broken was a Rioja from 1925, specifically a Castillo Ygay, from the Marqués de Murrieta winery. Pedro understands perfectly well that he has made a big mistake. But he will grow up and be able to buy a bottle to make up for the broken one. And not only that, but he will fall in love with wine and the restaurant that his father ran and that he now runs, Via Veneto, will have one of the best wine cellars in Spain (and probably the world).

Surely the word restaurant It is too small for it on Via Veneto. It is, of course, but to be fair we should say that it is an institution. So much has happened within those walls that it is not surprising that its owners, the Monje family, have made a book about it: Via Veneto. The great restaurant in Barcelona (Planeta Gastro). The texts were written by the journalist and colleague ofNow We Eat Trinidad Gilbert Martinez and the photographs are by Jordi Play.

Fresh air

In 1967, Via Veneto opened its doors on Ganduxer Street. To understand the context of Barcelona at that time, it is best to turn to the words of the person who opened it, the soul of the Gauche Divine and, as described in the book, "the enlightened businessman" Oriol Regàs. "At the end of the sixties, Barcelona was much closer to Europe than to the rest of Spain. It was a more cosmopolitan city, where the fresh air that reached us through Perpignan had already filtered in. New music, cinema and avant-garde publishing houses entered the Peninsula through the border with Catalonia. quist." At that time he already had other successful projects, such as the Bocaccio nightclub. They decided to name it Via Veneto after a partner who left before they opened. The idea was to pay homage to the high-end restaurants found on Via Vittorio Veneto in Rome. Xavier Regàs, Oriol Regàs's brother, did the interior design. He is responsible for the pink tablecloth that still adorns the tables. Since its opening, there was already a young waiter on the payroll from a small town in Pallars Jussà: Josep Monje. With time and a lot of effort, Josep Monje would end up being its owner.

Josep Monje has been a tireless worker, and is responsible for a host of adjectives associated with his restaurant, which is now run by his son Pedro: discreet, rigorous, humble, committed and hard-working. Josep Monje and his wife, Blanca San Martínez, educated their children with these values, which are reflected in Via Veneto today. All you have to do is look at some of the comments from customers in the book, such as the one that says: "Via Veneto has managed to make people of diverse, very different ideologies feel welcome in its dining rooms. Something similar happens in few restaurants."

To achieve this level of hospitality, the family's secret has been to be there and lead by example. Pere Monje explains in the book that he does not ask the service for what he does not do. It is through pedagogy that he trains the staff, and through this, the public. To give an example of how they have been educated, Pere Monje has not celebrated a single New Year sitting at the table since he was 18 years old.

A restaurant full of stars

All this effort has led to a lot of recognition, and perhaps the most relevant thing is that it is the oldest restaurant in Spain, along with Arzak, to have a Michelin star. It has been shining there since 1975. The Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition was also founded in 1989. It was done by the great gastronome Néstor Luján.

As we said, many illustrious people have passed through here. Richard Nixon, when he was president of the United States, and Salvador Dalí. The painter called him monk to Josep Monje. In fact, he made a dedication to him in which he could be seen as a priest, and said that he nourished his spirit. Dalí was a regular and had a favourite table. Josep Monje remembers him thus: "I have wonderful anecdotes about him, such as the one about the pearl necklace he wanted to make with blood sausage, to hang around the necks of his companions. He always came accompanied, very well accompanied, never with the muse, Gala." Monje also remembers visits from Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes.

If I may tell you the anecdote, the last time I went there I saw the film director Albert Serra. It is proof that the essence has not changed, and that Oriol Regàs would be proud. But... has it not changed? Or have we not noticed? In another comment, a regular customer says that Via Veneto is constantly changing without you realizing it. It always maintains the classic aesthetic, but undergoes constant renovations, so it never looks old. In fact, this strategy gattopardian This is seen precisely in the person who leads the kitchen today: David Andrés.

The young and brilliant chef has introduced many changes, always recognizing the importance of the house where he is. He explains that he respects "classic recipes, and by classic we do not mean outdated, but rather that they are linked to the history of the restaurant and, therefore, deserve all the respect in the world." This has not prevented him from evolving the kitchen and creating dishes such as a Catalan cream that is much more liquid and in which what seems to be the clay pot is actually made of carquiñol and can be eaten. "I don't like to cook to show off, but to add greater value to the product," says Andrés.

What you do need to know is that the Via Veneto menu has a secret: thesteak tartare and the crepe suzette They are not on the menu, but you can always order them. They are the dishes that end up on the table with skill. Because the restaurant continues to be the temple of comfortable luxury that has managed to sift through the essential and what needed to be changed. What they have not changed, for example, is that this is a team restaurant, with good conditions, and not one of famous chefs. It is, after all, a family restaurant and the protagonist here is the diner.