La Tasquita de Enfrente, the restaurant where Juanjo López and his heir Nacho Trujillo practice an essential cuisine that venerates the product long before it became fashionable, celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, becoming an essential institution to visit.

It had not yet struck five o'clock in the afternoon on a Tuesday in July when Juanjo Lopez Bedmar (Madrid, 1959), soul of The Tasquita in frontpose next to Nacho Trujilloin the kitchen for 14 years, at the doors of one of the most legendary restaurants in the forum, whose façade has never received the respect of graffiti artists. Posted on the sidewalk of this Ballesta street that almost leads to the Gran Vía, a prostitute tries to grab a camera to entertain herself while waiting for customers and a young man with an unreliable appearance hangs around a couple of distraught tourists.

La Tasquita de Enfrente, a restaurant m — Juanjo Lopez at his “office” table next to the restaurant door and under the urn with his father's ashes.

Lopez doesn't even flinch: “I've been living in this environment for a long time, with these sex therapists who are badly called whores. They offered me to change location, I resisted out of respect for family tradition. I inherited the business from my father, who started giving meals here in 1963, and at this point we're not going to move,” he says in his office, a round table next to the door where, like a good host, he receives his clients. Filled with books and surrounded by awards, photographs, figurines and memorabilia, it is strategically placed under a niche that, little known to all, serves as an altar to the urn containing the ashes of Don Serafín, his father.

How La Tasquita de Enfrente was born

In this original Tasquita in front (“where everything is ready and hot”) the cook began to educate the palate, but he only hung up his apron at the age of 40, when, after the death of his father and he received a warning about his own health, he gave up his lucrative job as a senior manager of an insurance company to continue the family business: “Today, I wouldn't do it again. Behind these 25 years, there is a lot of effort, a lot of money invested, a lot of sacrifices. I had to ask friends for financial help, I saw many big houses close and the very day they reopened, I realized that having a restaurant was not as simple and glamorous as I thought,” he admits.

The beginnings were difficult because Juanjo Lopez He always loved eating more than cooking and missed the opportunity to learn from his parents and grandmother: “All three of them cooked wonderfully, but I had my first contact with the stove in the army and I didn't like it, so when I opened it, I didn't like it, I didn't know anything. I haven't left the kitchen for 12 years. and to do the dishes, he relied on memories, on the smells that were recorded in him, on what he had seen at home. memory It has become the main basis of my cooking. “These post-war recipes from my grandmother, who, with the few resources she had, did her best, are the basis of the essentiality that has always characterized us,” explains the one whose obsession is do not use more than three ingredients per dish which, yes, must be of exceptional quality.

Against all odds (“nobody cared because I was capable of achieving it and sometimes it even seemed like a pipe dream”), La Tasquita's philosophy found its place in an era when the trend was towards the avant-garde – movements of the guard rather than venerated subjects: “We have always based ourselves on three principles: tradition, product and flavor“, defends without denying the good use of the technique thanks to which “the dishes of these grandmothers taste better”.

For this, word of mouth was essential. At the time, neither gastronomy made headlines nor did the guides have such a reputation, so it was their regulars who made La Tasquita great. “They are the philosopher's stone of This restaurant is aimed very much at customers and not at the passing public. Very loyal people who can forgive a mistake, who come back when they can because they know that it is their home, that they are or become friends. I have sometimes been criticized for only treating guests that I know well. It is not true, but thanks to them, we are still here today,” says López, a chef without mincing words or having problems showing his character, whether he wants to or not: “The other day, a lady told me that it was the first time she came and it did not meet her expectations; that everything seemed basic and expensive to her. I told her that I could not take it back, so that he would have some satisfaction and a lesson, and I kindly invited him not to come back. Because You may or may not like what we do, but we've been doing the same thing for 25 years.and putting expectations on something as stupid as a restaurant seems ridiculous to me. If you don't like it, don't come and listen. “That's what I do.”

Juanjo Tasquita, genius and figure

Barely 65 years old, Juanjo Tasquitaas he is known in the sector, has lived enough and knows the business too well for new trends “or customers looking for experiences” to change him: “I can't please everyone, and I don't want to either, and the days when you have zeros serve as a remedy for humility, but it's worth being honest, my experience tells me that to succeed in this business there is only one formula: have clear ideas, surround yourself with a good team, work hard and have patience”.

In a disused bar that leads to a cozy dining room that can accommodate nine tables, the prices are piled up: “One day, I told my wife that I wanted to make a kind of nice trash can where I could throw them all. She did it. I don't let myself be pushed around, but deep down, none of this means anything. In fact, I have fake ones like that,” he says, bringing over a plate that reads: “To Juanjo Tasquita, Space Cook Award 2019”: “I did it one day when I was missing affection,” he jokes despite his reputation for seriousness. “It's not about exaggerating, but neither should we mythologize things, but rather give them the value they have. We are committed to nourishment, so let us not become transcendent that here the art is provided by photographs and paintings”, many friendly customers, like Chema Madoz, Fernando Bellver or José Ramón Gallardo.

No thorn, the Michelin star, perhaps? “That has never worried me. Neither I nor my cuisine are made for all audiences or for all critics and I have already arrived there with my ego resolved. We are among those that you recommend, we have two Repsol Sun and look, here I am a sculpture of a giant Bibendum that they gave me and that already compensates me”, he says with a half-smirk.

Yet when it comes to summarizing this quarter century of history, he admits that the recognitions have been important: “By entering the best of gastronomy, of criticism Rafael Garcia Santoswill appear on the pages of the New York Times or be considered as references by magazines such as Metropolitan or special edition “helped us to get rid of our complexes and to be more and more radical in our principles,” explains the chef, who has eliminated all the garnishes from a menu that changes every day according to the demands of the market and the season and concentrates his classics and more personal preparations in two men (115 and 160 euros).

What to eat in La Tasquita de Enfrente

Condensed into five dishes, his cuisine of “simple nudity” where the product is above the preparations and whose secret is to prepare everything at the moment, illustrates this report: “The salad, which represents the essentiality of La Tasquita, and the tripe, in homage to my father to whom I owe everything, are two basics that mark our yesterday, our today and our tomorrow; the fried anchovy and the fig with anchovy, they reflect that bite that surprises, that less is more that characterizes us, and the squid is an example of our maximum respect for the product. The spectacular carabinero with sobrasada en papillote; hake cocochas with ink sauce; peas with squid; the very tender sirloin meatball and their legendary and creamy panna cotta of which they only make 12 a day, could form another succulent quintet with which you will delight at La Tasquita.