Paul Ibarra: “La vanguardia se está descontrolando”

Paul Ibarra couldn't care less about the limelight. In fact, despite being part of Bilbao's finest culinary scene, his name is only known to those who, like him, practically live in the kitchen or who like to know who runs the place they're dining at. In his case, the restaurant in question has been serving dishes in Bilbao's old town for 147 years. Los Fueros is the oldest restaurant in the Biscayan capital and the kind we'd all love to have in our neighborhood: good ingredients, skillful cooking, and great value. And, what's more, it's open on Mondays.

In 2015, Fernando Canales took over the restaurant, and Ibarra, one of his most loyal disciples, left his position at Etxanobe (which held a Michelin star until this year and two Repsol Suns) to pursue the cuisine he loves most. Now, he celebrates 10 years at the helm of this restaurant, where people go to eat Huelva prawns, fried hake, and cod fritters, but also to play a game. Because if there's one ingredient Ibarra likes to use, it's a sense of humor, whose greatest enemy, according to him, is the homogenization of the restaurant industry. Even in Bilbao.

You had been working with Fernando Canales in R&D for some time. Did you know from the start that you wanted to lead Los Fueros?

I was absolutely certain. I wanted a change of scenery, and Etxanobe is my home, but I wanted something more down-to-earth, more real. To get back on my feet. Etxanobe had a Michelin star and plenty of creativity and technique, but what I really like is sitting on a terrace, in a charming little bar, and having some cod fritters. If someone told me I was going to die tomorrow, I wouldn't go to El Celler de Can Roca: I'd go and eat some fried hake.

You have spent almost your entire professional life in Fernando Canales' restaurants.

Yes. And I've visited many restaurants, and there's food with soul and food without soul. It has a lot to do with how the ingredients are treated. A tomato straight from the refrigerator isn't the same as one that's been left out at room temperature overnight. I learned this idea of getting the most out of a product because it deserves it from Fernando. Now we're partners and friends, and I know it's not trendy anymore and that everyone's self-taught, which is fantastic, but Fernando is the master who taught me to cook, and we're very much on the same page when it comes to cooking.

Which is it?

The cuisine should focus on the product, made to order.

You've managed to give Los Fueros its own identity, so it's not overshadowed by Canales. You've made it your own. Do you feel you haven't been given the spotlight?

I couldn't care less if my name is mentioned. I was very clear that the brand had to be Los Fueros, and there are many people who come in and don't even say hello, neither to me nor to Xabi [Sánchez], who's been with me for 10 years. There are days when I have to wait, and I do it as if it were just an extra. I'm not interested in the brand being associated with me at all. The face of the restaurant has to be the restaurant itself. It's not about the chef or the waiter: the important thing is that whoever comes enjoys it immensely.

Did you feel that way when you worked at Etxanobe?

Fernando is very generous. He also has a policy of supporting whichever chef works well for him and is loyal, instead of undermining them or telling them to get lost. That's the case with me and Javi Izarra from Tamarises. Instead of creating competition, he puts us in charge of his projects. This allows him to invest money and continue without much effort. And he's enthusiastic about it. I suggested we use "By Fernando Canales" when we took over Los Fueros; it was trendy at the time. He was very clear that no, since I was there, I was the one who should be the face of the business. He said it would be undervaluing the people who were there day after day.

However, Fernando Canales and Etxanobe are a very important brand in Bilbao.

Yes, and it's a bit like slavery. I learned that early on. You go to a restaurant and you want the chef to greet you. If the brand is a face, mine or anyone else's, you have to be there all the time, and it's not necessary. There are days when I like to have dinner with my wife or go skateboarding with my son. Besides, I know there are chefs who cook the dishes at Los Fueros better than I do. Amparo [Senzano] has been cooking fried hake every day for years. I go up to her and say, "Maybe you should take it off the heat, it's getting overcooked." And she's polite and doesn't tell me to get lost, but she should.

Amparo is a master at cooking hake, but she's not Basque.

No. She's Bolivian. She started in Etxanobe as a cleaner. It lasted three seconds because we immediately saw she was smart. They put her in the fish section for a while, but then she decided to leave, to go back to her country. After a while, when I was already in Los Fueros, she told me she wanted to come back. As soon as she got off the plane, she came to work. It's been six years now. And she fries hake better than I do.

You're celebrating a decade in the old town.

Yes. Now we're doing great and we can do a lot of things. The first few years were very tough.

Prawns were already a classic at Los Fueros before you took over the restaurant in 2015. Did you ever consider removing them?

Never. In fact, when we were doing the renovations, people would come in to snoop, and the first thing they'd do wasn't check if we'd removed the original glazed mosaic from the wall, but ask, "You'll keep the prawns, right?" And then, if necessary, they'd check that everything was still there. The prawns are a product. And they weren't something I created: they were already part of Bilbao. If Los Fueros didn't smell of prawns, it wouldn't be Los Fueros.

And they're from Huelva, too.

A supplier from Cantabria brings them to me. When he sees the price we charge, he says he doesn't understand. Other places he works with sell them for 10 euros more. "Why don't you raise the price?" he asks. "Because I want people to keep eating prawns! I'll earn less, but I'll serve more. That's what's important."

Tradition is part of the Fueros. Not only because it's the oldest restaurant in Bilbao, but because it's the cuisine you love. However, you're not a purist. What was the approach you wanted to take?

Keeping traditions updated. Tradition, if it doesn't adapt, disappears. The world of haute cuisine might be fantastic, but it's a bit crazy. What Mugaritz does is supposed to be avant-garde, right? But avant-garde cuisine has to be followed by someone, otherwise it's just art. You see Noma, and I'm sure it's wonderful, but I just don't know what they're doing. It's not my world. Who's doing avant-garde? The Roca brothers? I don't know. Diverxo? Is there anyone who can keep up with them? And if you invite me, we'll go tomorrow, okay?

“There’s a gap between hake in koxkera sauce and the cuisine of elBulli, and we’re not addressing it. If we don’t, it will be filled by horrible restaurants with bad pizzas” you said at a conference a long time ago.

We're working on it. We, Kimtxu, Almargen, act as a bridge. You can eat for 40 or 50 euros and it's fresh, expertly prepared food. This quality-price ratio isn't easy to find. We're in the middle, filling that gap. The avant-garde is getting out of hand. Maybe I'm getting old, but it's becoming increasingly distant.

Your 'fualimotxo', the prawn Bloody Mary, the txistorra saam, the anchovy empanada that isn't an empanada. Has the sense of humor been lost when it comes to cooking?

I hope not! People have to come here to have a good time. We, for example, also do our own version of the Efe sandwich. Someone from Wisconsin won't get it, but someone from Bilbao will. The problem is homogenization. That kills the humor. Everything is the same and perfect, and it always works. Not always doing it the same way and adding details is complicated; you need professionals, working hard all day, but that's what keeps a joke from getting boring.

What's your take on the gastronomic scene in Bilbao?

Sometimes I check TripAdvisor to see how many restaurants there are in Bilbao. Last time there were 1,400. Good ones? 50, which isn't a bad average. Don't go to the rest. The problem is when tourists come and think that the other 1,350 are all the restaurants Bilbao has to offer. We, being a small business, always recommend places to those who come here and can't get a table. We even go to the trouble of giving them a list of places to eat pintxos, for example. We tell them to go to Sorginzulo, to Gure Toki. Otherwise, they'll go to a place that doesn't care about what they do and they'll think the food in Bilbao is bad. And that's bad for everyone.

And there are more and more investment groups…

It's very easy to open and close places. People go, take a picture, and eat rubbish. And that's bad for the city. In Bilbao, you can choose good places at varying prices, from a decent set menu to a Michelin-starred restaurant. And then there are those of us in between, few in number, but we exist. There are too many restaurants in Bilbao, but some people are doing things right. Bilbao is no longer the Bilbao of 20 years ago, thankfully! It has evolved, and we will have to evolve with it, but we must never turn the city into a theme park.

Do you think the food bubble and social media have corrupted the experience of eating out?

This whole thing bores me to death, that food is only for photos. It's a shame we don't put our phones down and enjoy it. It's just so tedious. I understand there have to be influencers and restaurants set up for that, but how long do they last? Not long. We've been around for 10 years. How many restaurants in Bilbao have been around for 10 years? The good ones are still open. The rest bore me. Yesterday I was with my parents at Pablo Urzay, in Las Arenas. We had a plate of pig's trotters with snails, which wasn't exactly photogenic, but they were... absolutely divine. Only once did an influencer come in and film a video. We must not be glamorous enough.

Back in 2018 you were already saying that producers needed to be valued, that they needed to be paid what they deserved. That wasn't common then, especially before the pandemic.

This message is relevant now, but it wasn't then. And that it is fantastic, because now more people think the same way and believe in doing things right.

Can you see yourself working somewhere else?

No. It's just what I like. There are things that can't be changed, and I would change them: we have an open kitchen and the extractor fan is noisy; I'd like a few more square meters and for the tables to be further apart, a bigger kitchen. But it's a special place. If it were a normal place, I'd just find a bigger one, that's all. This one has 147 years of history. When you walk in, there are good vibes. It's 147 years of having a good time within four walls, and something of that sticks. Los Fueros makes sense in Los Fueros, with its good points and its bad points.