Though his name may be impossible to pronounce to any non-Basques, Victor Arguinzoniz of Asador Etxebarri, a restaurant in the hills beyond San Sebastian, is the chef many other a avant-garde chefs, especially in Spain and Italy, are talking about. He is likely to become hot property, too, especially as this year he is one of the highest new entries to Restaurant Magazine’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
His reputation is growing from his skills on none other than the humble barbecue. Would you barbecue an oyster or an egg? Victor Arguinzoniz would. His rustic restaurant, Asador Etxebarri, in the picture-perfect Basque village of Axpe (some 40 minutes torturous drive from Bilbao) is fast becoming a place of culinary pilgrimage.
It’s not only the ingredients that he uses that is making his name, but what he cooks on. An entire wall is lined with his own creation: custom-made stainless-steel grills that glide up and down a system of tracks and cables, with an inbuilt hand crank to enable precision control of the flame. Aiming to elevate the simple grill from backyard standby to culinary super tool, he explores the most delicate nuances of smoking to enhance rather than mask the most delicate of pristine ingredients. Think tiny angulas (baby river eels), for instance, and even smoked ice cream.
Arguinzoniz also makes his own charcoal from various ingredients: black oak for fresh seafood, grapevine cuttings for chuletas (bone-in rib-eye) and even applewood for caviar. It’s certainly a world apart from scorch marks and marinades.
Asador Extebarri (+34 94 6583042, asadoretxebarri.com).
