Lucio Blázquez, hotelier: "I took Isabel Preysler to Vargas Llosa's table and they became engaged"

Lucio Blázquez (Serranillos, Ávila, 90 years old) goes to his restaurant in Cava Baja every day around 2:30 p.m.

When he appears at the door of Casa Lucio, the customers eating at the bar cheer him as if he were a famous actor.

“We come from Tarragona to see him.

I have to take a picture with you”, a client tells him.

He's happy.

He has just received a tribute from the Association of Businessmen of La Latina, the Madrid neighborhood where he has been for almost half a century.

As always, he sits at the same table, at the entrance: "Here I receive the affection of the people."

Ask.

Do you need to come to the restaurant daily?

Answer.

Yes, it's my life.

At 90 years old I am in the prime of life.

I have achieved everything I wanted.

I am proud of how much I have done for Spain and for Madrid.

King Juan Carlos and I are the best ambassadors for Spain.

Q.

Do you miss King Emeritus?

A.

A lot.

It is a phenomenon.

We talk from time to time and I would like him to eat eggs in this house again.

I don't like that he has left Spain.

I also love the new King very much, I have known him since he was little.

At 90 years old I am in the prime of life.

I have achieved everything I wanted.

I am proud of how much I have done for Spain and for Madrid.

King Juan Carlos and I are the best ambassadors for Spain.

Lucio Blazquez

Q.

Are you very grateful?

R.

Life is very difficult, but for my personality it has been easy.

Everyone has always welcomed me.

I have been working for 70 years and I have no enemies.

I say it for sure.

My hospitality colleagues respect me, they are wonderful.

Q.

What do your eggs have that others don't?

R.

That they are fresh, they are well made.

And the potato and the oil are just as good.

The secret is that you have to make them and serve them at the moment.

Now they are back in fashion.

They are very healthy.

I eat them three times a week.

Q.

Is it good public relations?

R.

I have that fame since I was a child.

If I wrote my memoirs they would be widely read and appreciated because of everything I have experienced.

I have had fun and enjoyed life.

Q.

Why haven't you written them?

R.

Because it hasn't given me time.

I have seven books with thousands of signatures from all clients, many of them personalities, from all over the world.

I have a very long story, but I cannot tell it.

These walls have seen it all, for better and for worse.

Of course, I have never had to throw anyone out of the restaurant.

Family photo of those attending the tribute to businessman Lucio Blázquez (in the center) in his restaurant, on February 7.

Among the attendees, politicians such as José Luis Martínez-Almeida and Begoña Villacís, mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, and chefs such as Alberto Chicote or Paco Roncero.Gustavo Valiente (Europa Press)

Q.

You have photographers at the door, like Isabel Preysler.

R.

With her I have an anecdote.

She came to the restaurant to eat, I took her to Vargas Llosa's table and they became engaged.

I started that relationship, although they already knew each other, but here the crush began.

Then they have come again.

She is very pretty and nice.

Very important couples have met here.

Q.

You are a matchmaker.

A.

This site is unique.

If I weren't the owner, I would be a customer.

You eat like in the best restaurant in the world, and everyone leaves happy.

For the genre I have, the best, this is the cheapest restaurant in the world.

Customers scold me because I don't raise prices.

Q.

Now you have your three children in the business.

A.

All three are lawyers, but they don't practice.

They also deal with El Landó and Los Huevos de Lucio, which are wonderful.

My children have come out to the father in how hard-working they are, as well as handsome and educated.

Q.

Do you have anything left to do?

R.

No. I have never wanted to offend anyone.

If I leave tomorrow, I leave very, very proud of how the world has behaved with me.

And I know that my neighbors love and respect me.

I have stopped doing other businesses to dedicate myself to what I wanted.

Q.

Do you look at the income statement?

R.

I no longer worry about the accounts.

I never wanted to be a billionaire, I always wanted to be a playboy.

I could have a private plane.

They offered it to me once, but I haven't needed it.

When it's gone, I want my kids to follow its trajectory and not worry about money.

Let them take care of making customers happy.

That is the great luxury.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber