Life can take some unexpected turns. This is how Adrián Rubio – originally from Aragón province, where he studied cooking – ended up in Barcelona. Perhaps it was the strong wind known as cierzo, which blows from the Pyrenees and down through his native land to the southwest , that carried him here to open a restaurant where the recipes change every day. A chef has to be tough and creative enough to face such a powerful force. Adrián Rubio is just that kind of chef, and he decided to name his new personal project, opened in 2017, after that wind.
Cierzo is a small two-story restaurant in the Dreta de l’Eixample neighborhood, very close to Tetuán square. The space is elegant, simple, neat, relaxed, with just a few tables managed by Adrián’s good friend, Javier Valls. “Javier was recommended by a friend when I needed a waiter. We had a great connection, and now he is like part of the family,” says Adrián. The area around the restaurant is full of offices and shops with hundreds of workers who are spoiled for choice when it comes to their daily lunches. But among the well-organized crowd of eateries in L’Eixample, Cierzo has made a name for itself as a reliable option, always interesting and unique, drawing a crowd of regulars that drop by week after week.
Here, they can find a simple but delicious menú del día for just 14 euros. The recipes change every day, giving two options for a starter, two for a main and one dessert, all with a beverage (beer, wine or soft drinks) included. The regulars who come in pairs know what to do: they just sit and order one of each, sharing everything. “Bring us everything,” they say to Javier, without having to look at the menu.
After a different project that didn’t work out as he expected, Adrian decided to start his own venture. The original idea was for a bar with a counter serving street food, but of course, another sudden gust of wind took this space away and brought the unexpected opportunity that today is Cierzo. In this new location, Adrián flipped his vision into a more gastronomic concept dedicated to the main clientele in the area: the neighbors and local office workers, which meant he needed to serve meals with both high quality and accessible prices. “Eating [out for lunch] shouldn’t be boring or lame,” he says. “With creativity and adjusting the costs, it’s possible!”
Adrián cooks with seasonal ingredients, mixing local Mediterranean market cuisine with Asian or South American touches. He plays around with any and all possibilities to build the four new dishes for the daily lunch specials, but traditional Italian recipes are an especially important source of inspiration at Cierzo, especially when it comes to exploring vegetables the infinite variations of pastas and gnocchi. Here we’ve enjoyed tasty cannelloni and the fantastic lasagnas with meat, eggplant or zucchini, gratin and truffle béchamel on top.
Winter is a time for more local recipes like Aragonese or Catalan soups and stews, traditional flavors that warm the spirits. The second courses typically feature one fish and one meat dish. When we see Javier pass by our table with a magnificent roasted Iberian pork sirloin with mashed potato parmentier and crispy leeks, it almost makes us rethink our order. But we’re reassured when we’re presented with our freshly grilled corvina, a juicy and tender white fish served with a crunchy layer of breadcrumbs on top and covered in roasted garlic sauce, accompanied by crispy asparagus. This is why we have to keep coming back.
“The first two-and-a-half years, I never repeated one single dish!” Adrián explains. With this energy, maybe the wind should be named after him. “I go with the seasons and throughout the day the I get ideas for the next menu.” It makes us wonder how he keeps track of this incredible number of creations. “I have a quite big book of recipes, but it could be bigger,” he says. “I’m pretty anarchic when I cook! And I don’t have time to take notes or even take photos of everything.” The suppliers announce the products available each day and Adrián selects what makes the most sense to produce something different, within the restraints of the season and the menu costs. “Now things are different; if something becomes a big success I try to include it [in the menu] again every fifteen days,” he explains.
Some of these successful dishes makes their way onto the menu for dinner, an event that only takes place on Thursday and Friday nights. Dinner at Cierzo is a fun selection of around twenty high quality dishes to choose and share, which hang around for a bit longer on the menu than the fleeting lunch specials. For the dinners, the team closes the upper floor, concentrating all the attention on just a few tables downstairs. The tomato tartar is one of the favorites among the nighttime customers: a juicy, “meaty” vegetarian tartar of preserved tomato with avocado, covered with black olive paste and a sun-dried tomato sauce, making the flavor change from intense at the top to fresher and creamier on the base levels.
It’s impossible not to be curious about what’s going to happen next week at Cierzo; which new ideas will appear scrawled on the blackboard. Come Monday through Friday to get a taste of Adrián’s latest creations. During the weekend, the wind stops. “I also have to live!” he laughs.
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