Remigio, the restaurant in Tudela where vegetables shine even in dessert

2023-04-14T10:38:18.333Z

In the family inn, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, Luis Salcedo offers everything from traditional dishes with products from the Tudel garden to a tasting menu dedicated exclusively to vegetables

Borage, chicory, thistle.

When one sits at the table of the Remigio restaurant, in Tudela (Navarra), one has the feeling that until then vegetables were largely ignored.

Familiar vegetables and others not so much parade before their eyes, surprising because they are masterfully cooked and because they are conceived as the main ingredient of a dish.

They prepare them according to traditional recipes, in bites full of technique and even integrated into desserts —an

asparagus

crème brûlée or a
glacé biscuit.

chicory

And they do it by adapting to a philosophy that is trending, that of sustainability, but daily and natural for those who, like Luis Salcedo and his family, cannot conceive of any other way of working than in balance with the environment.

"Now everyone talks about kilometer zero and the seasons, but we've been doing that all our lives," reflects the chef from Tudel.

Salcedo, 43, does not remember his life without being near the stove.

When he was born, the establishment that he now leads was already there, run by his parents and before, by his grandparents.

They were the ones who started the business in 1963, although before that it was also a place dedicated to restaurants.

“I have grown up in the kitchen”, he assures her now, although at some point he began to study to be an administrator.

"I learned traditional cooking with my mother," he continues.

In 2008, as a result of the economic crisis, he realized that he could train "more", so he packed his bags and went to San Sebastián, to the Basque Culinary Center, where he took two courses and a master's degree in Product, Technique and Quality.

“I had a lot of time to visit traditional bars, I saw a lot of gastronomic culture and the importance that gastronomy is given in Guipúzcoa”,

remember.

"There you realize the value of yours, because it is very peculiar and for me it is unique," she adds.

Luis Salcedo, 43, runs the kitchen of the restaurant, where his parents and brother also work.Pablo Lasaosa

Because for Salcedo, and in general for many chefs from the Ribera de Navarra, vegetable cooking, which is now described as trending, is part of their DNA.

During the conversation, he remembers, for example, how in the houses of the area, the water used to cook the vegetables is often drunk before eating the dish.

It was precisely after his stay in Donosti, back in 2014, when he set out, among other things, to extol that culinary heritage.

To do this, he and his brother developed a project to renew the family business, while maintaining the essence of the traditional one.

"He changed the kitchen quite a bit, especially in the matter of tasting vegetables, which until then we didn't do."

To begin with, they began to work their own garden, a piece of land in La Mejana —an islet of land next to the Ebro River that houses part of the area's crops— from which today approximately 50% of the vegetables that we grow come from. They serve in the restaurant.

“We are putting the traditional ones —heads, lettuce, artichokes, borage...— and this year we have started with asparagus, although we still have very little.

We also grow products that are a little out of the ordinary in the Ribera, such as fennel, zucchini flowers,

pack choi

kale.

”, he lists, while clarifying that they work simultaneously with two or three other producers to ensure a good product.

The first innovative dish that he introduced, he recalls, was his already famous punki egg, a tribute to the "lunch of the riverbanks", inspired by a Michel Bras dish, which consists of an egg cooked at low temperature, encapsulated like a croquette in dehydrated potato flakes and on a bed of crystal peppers.

One of the ways in which asparagus is prepared in spring is poached with eggs.Pablo Lasaosa

Fried artichoke in flower, with ceviche of langoustine.

paul lasaosa

Pass of the tasting menu with garlic and leek.Pablo Lasaosa

Punki egg, inspired by a typical riverside lunch: egg cooked at low temperature, encapsulated in dehydrated potato flakes with roasted glass peppers.Pablo Lasaosa

In the main hall of the Remigio there is room for 80 diners and on weekends, locals and visitors, many of them French, usually pack a space that is not devoid of history.

All of it is covered with wooden moldings that, according to Salcedo, were bought in 1936 from a restaurant in San Sebastián.

“Of all the reform we have done, the only thing that is not touched is that room”, he maintains, also referring to the stained glass windows that decorate it.

Here, in tune with the traditional air of the place, traditional dishes triumph, including vegetables and beyond, such as baby squid stuffed in its own ink (18 euros) and the small duck, a typical Navarrese stew of tripe, legs and intestines of suckling lamb and blood (20 euros).

Although the reality is that there is no rival for those made with seasonal vegetables: in spring,

the menestra four ases —asparagus, peas, broad beans and artichokes—, artichokes with clams (21 euros) and asparagus with poached eggs;

in summer, ugly tomatoes;

in autumn, pochas and crystal peppers;

and in winter, chicory, red thistle or borage.

“It is one of the few vegetables that are made by the minute.

They ask you for a portion and you cook it.

Its special moment is when there are frosts.

We clean it before cooking it, you take a lace, make sticks and you remove the web that it has.

It is a simple, but laborious job, ”he explains, about one of the most consumed vegetables in the area and largely unknown in many parts of Spain.

During the week, the restaurant also offers a menu of the day at a price of 25 euros.

ugly tomatoes;