Basque Fed

Last weekend I took the train thirty minutes south from Donostia-San Sebastián into the heart of Gipuzkoa.[1] A friend picked me up in Alegia and from there we drove to Altzo, a small town of 400 citizens located on the top of a hill. It’s like most small towns – there’s one main street along which the town hall, library, church, and ATM are all situated. And between the library and church is the town’s one and only restaurant, Arandia Jatetxea, which has presided as such for well over a hundred years.

These hills and farmland can be seen from the restaurant's doorstep.

Facing Arandia Jatetxea is a plaza, and beyond that, postcard-quality scenery of Basque mountains and farmland. It’s a restaurant that’s been passed down from generation to generation, and is now in the hands of Maixabel Arandia, the current owner and chef. She, with the help of her daughter and sister on the weekends, prepares food for a loyal crowd who expect familiar and nourishing dishes.

The original stovetop and oven still in use at Arandia Jatetxea.

The Menú del Día, the three-course menu served on weekdays, and the à la carte menu, or “la carta,” which is served on the weekends, showcase Basque home-style cooking at its most traditional. Entry into the kitchen is further proof of this as a pot of alubias (local red beans) boil on one burner, while its “sacramentos”[2] of morcilla (blood sausage), chorizo, and berza (cabbage) simmer in a mixture of water and their own juices on the side. Meanwhile, Loli, Maixabel’s sister, prepares a variety of croquetas  (croquettes) in one corner, and Lorena, Maixabel’s daughter, stuffs pimientos de piquillo[3] with a house-made bacalao (cod) filling in another.

These piquillo peppers are first stuffed with a cod filling, and later baked until golden.

Within a month, however, the alubias dish will lose its place on the menu, a position it has enjoyed since November. The abundance of fresh spring and summer products will happily replace heavier dishes like this, which are best eaten during the winter. Instead, “menestra de verduras,” a thick soup of local spring vegetables, will feature on the menu for about 25 days between April and May, followed by a slew of seasonal summer salads.

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The relationship Arandia Jatetxea has with its customers is telling of the restaurant’s success. Maixabel, her family, and the close-knit group of waitresses who work there, greet everyone who enters the door like a member of the family. They answer questions with enthusiasm and lend a patient ear to requests and suggestions. What Maixabel and her customers have is “confianza,” or trust. It is a bond that supports communication between both parties – diners ask for the addition of a certain dish (more pasta for athletes and salads for dieters) or the elimination of another, and Maixabel will sometimes deliver.

This dialogue between the chef and her diners has offered many opportunities to play with the menu. Arandia’s ensalada de bacalao (cod salad), a tiered salad consisting of six distinct layers of vegetables and seafood, is a modern take on a salad which places equal importance on both flavor and presentation. Despite creative dishes like this, Maixabel and her staff don’t stray too far from the traditional. That’s why people visit Arandia Jatetxea after all. So that they can eat cogote, a traditional Basque dish of baked head of merluza (hake), if they so desire. But Maixabel offers another merluza option – merluza al horno con salsa de pikillo (baked hake with a piquillo pepper sauce) – for those who desire home-style cooking that is both beautifully presented and technically sophisticated.

Arandia Jatetxea is what some might consider an institution. And a rarity. It is a restaurant run by a family who likewise treat its customers as such. The food reflects the familiarity that exists between the establishment and its diners. It’s wholesome cooking that will warm you on a cold day and cool you on a hot one. You can meander about, drinking wine for hours before sitting down to your meal, usually shared with all members of the family. There’s no rush nor are there formalities. It’s not unlike going to grandma’s on any given Sunday, hanging out, and then sitting down when the meal is finally ready. That’s what the people do who eat at Arandia Jatetxea – fulfill their own traditions while breathing life into the tradition that is this restaurant.

[1] Gipuzkoa is one of the three provinces that make up the Basque Country. It is the province within which the city of Donostia-San Sebastián is located. It is more or less the equivalent of a county within a state.

[2] Sacramentos refer to the sides that always accompany a bowl of alubias.

[3] Pimientos de piquillo, or piquillo peppers, are a type of red pepper grown in Navarra.

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