Tuesday, September 10, 2024, 01:18
Comment
-
Copy link
-
WhatsApp
-
Facebook
-
X (formerly Twitter)
-
LinkedIn
-
Telegram
-
Threads
How is it possible that a humble restaurant in one of the most remote villages in La Rioja has appeared this week on the pages of The New York Times? The whims of the globalised world, always looking for the latest discovery to share on social media. Irene Sobrón takes it with humour and the same modesty with which she talks about her dishes. An anecdote to joke about among friends and little more. What worries her is that she will have bread until the baker’s van appears again in Viniegra de Abajo or that this year there will be a good harvest of beans with which to fill her pots.
Hers is a heroic hospitality business, far from distribution networks and separated from her local customers by a winding road that goes deep into the Najerilla valley. However, Irene has managed to make a virtue out of necessity and turn that dependence on nearby producers and that remote location into the greatest attractions of her restaurant.
She seems used to turning adverse situations around. Her business is the result of “a bad investment,” she confesses. A project with her veterinarian husband to set up a livestock school that did not prosper due to the ups and downs of the administration. “In the end I found myself providing meals to survive and pay for my children’s education.” That was ten years ago.
Helped by a team of hardy rural women, Irene makes the most of the season, which lasts throughout the lush Riojan autumn, well into December. In the worst of winter, she lights the stove only at weekends, but in these last days of summer she feeds families and groups of friends every day who bid farewell to the summer with a banquet.
Their signature menu, five starters and five main courses to choose from a repertoire of well-rounded dishes, is offered for a very generous 22 euros. Less than the cost of the petrol needed to get to Las Viniegras from the centre of Bilbao, but I assure you that the trip is worth it.
For the dry stew she uses “when she can” from the village gardens – zucchini, chard, borage, beetroot or beans that she cooks separately and packs with maternal care – if she doesn’t have enough, she waits for the murmur of Felix’s van, the fruit seller. The red beans – caparrones in the vernacular – are also from the valley. She carefully stews deer meat with mushrooms, prepares delicious meatballs with orange and mint and continues to preserve old recipes such as blood sausage. She never cooks in a hurry. Why? This is Viniegra de Abajo, not Times Square.
Details that add up
A report on family-run restaurants in La Rioja has put her on the radar of the prestigious newspaper The New York Times this week, but Irene Sobrón has spent a decade making a name for herself among holidaymakers in the region thanks to her good cooking skills and service worthy of the name ‘family’. She takes advantage of what nearby producers offer her and takes care of the details, like those little pots by the illustrator and ceramist Tamara Mendaza where she serves Anguiano beans. She is accompanied on the team by Vanesa Blasco and Ana Montero. Also the dog Chabela, who acts as a sentinel for the town.
Irene’s Food House
-
Address: Josefa Martinez, 10. Viniegra de Abajo.
-
Phone: 941378221
-
Prices: House menu: €22. Croquettes: €5. Viniegra sausage: €8. Beans: €9.
Comment
Report a bug
