30 Nov Diario de Avisos announces the winners of the XXXVI Gastronomy Awards
The awards will be presented at a gala to be held on 13 December in the Auditorium of El Sauzal.
The 36th DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards will be presented at a gala event to be held on 13 December at the El Sauzal Auditorium. These awards, which are given by the DIARIO DE AVISOS Foundation, are the oldest awards given by a Spanish media outlet, always with the aim of recognising the work, dedication, effort and talent of those people and institutions that fight, day after day, to move forward in this sector, which has been hard hit by the COVID pandemic, and which is fundamental for the economic, social and cultural development of this archipelago.
The Jury of these awards, chaired by José Luis Conde, has decided to award the following prizes in this edition: Manuel Iglesias Award to Carmen Capote (24 Onzas, Madrid); Best International Cuisine Award to Rosa Lía Díaz (Qapac, Arona); Best Head Chef Award, Carlos Mesa (Muelle Viejo, Guía de Isora); Best #CONSUME CANARIO Restaurant Award, Pedro Hernández (El Duende del Fuego, Los Llanos de Aridane); Best Work in Wine Award, Enrique Alfonso (Altos de Trevejos, Vilaflor); Award for the Dissemination of Gastronomy, Andrés Rodríguez, director and editor of Tapas; Award for Cooking without Combustion, Cuernocabra (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), and Solidarity Gastronomy Award, Acción contra el Hambre (Action against Hunger).
The sponsors of the gala are Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council, La Laguna City Council, Cabildo de Tenerife, GMR Canarias, Turismo del Gobierno de Canarias, BBVA, Binter, Cajamar, Philip Morris and Spring Hoteles.
Manuel Iglesias Award. Carmen Capote
The jury of the 36th DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards has decided to award the Manuel Iglesias prize - in homage to the founder of the awards - to Carmen Capote, a native of El Paso (Santa Cruz de La Palma) for her intense and hard-working career in the world of gastronomy, especially in the field of chocolates. Carmen Capote is the owner of two chocolate shops, 24 Onzas, opened in the Spanish capital, which have been a focal point of attraction for the world of gourmets since their opening.
Carmen Capote, although there is no gastronomic background in her family, it is true that since she was a child she lived surrounded by tocinos de cielo, sponge cakes and almond cheese. As she did not have a clear vocation, she decided to study Business Studies while she discovered that she liked the world of hotels and restaurants more. Her father advised her to finish her degree because "it won't get in your way and it will add up".
After a tour of several multinationals, he came to the conclusion that "I wanted to do something where I could decide, where I could transform something, more practical and good". With this attitude, he went to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, where he obtained the Grand Diplôme de Cuisine et de Patisserie, after a few intense days of apprenticeship. He then went to work at the Elysée Palace, with French President François Hollande, in "the best work experience I've ever had in my life". He later joined Jöel Robuchon's Atelier, always working from 7 a.m. until the end of the day.
Once in Madrid, he decided to open a sweet shop and then another, located in Espartinas and Zurbano streets. The name came about on a trip to Barcelona to train with Jordi Borras: "On the plane I got seat 24, on the way back, seat 24; the hotel room, 24 and I remembered that my father's favourite number was 24 and that a bar of chocolate is 24 ounces" ... And so the name of Carmen Capote's most personal project was created, and in recent weeks she has created special chocolates to raise funds for those affected by the Cumbre Vieja volcano.
Best International Cuisine Award. Rosa Lía Díaz, Qapaq
Peruvian cuisine, while representing a cultural revolution in its country, was able to spread all over the world. Spain has been no stranger to this advance guard of great chefs from the Andean country, who have established their bases here. This revolution has also reached the Canary Islands and now thanks to a great chef and entrepreneur, Rosa Lía Díaz Cieza, of Peruvian origin although she has been working on the islands for almost 15 years, we can enjoy her cuisine in the restaurant Qapaq, which has been awarded the Prize for Best International Cuisine by the jury of the 36th DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards.
The restaurant of Rosa Lía Díaz, owner and chef, is located on Avenida de La Habana in Los Cristianos, close to what is known as the Golden Mile of Playa de las Américas in the municipality of Arona. The chef takes special care with the top quality products she buys for her restaurant, where the kitchen is in full view of the clientele. It must be said that this enterprising woman did not hesitate to make Qapaq one of the first restaurants, if not the first, in the south of Tenerife to open its doors after the pandemic once the terraces were allowed, even though it was a difficult time to get the business off the ground.
Rosa Lía Díaz, with experience and training with the Basque chefs Martín Berasategui and Erlantz Gorostiza, has been able to put her knowledge into this cosy Qapaq that delights all those who visit it.
The chef gives her personal and Mediterranean touches to dishes such as the sea bass ceviche, the trio of Limean causes of papa bonita, the free-range chicken a la robata with anticucho sauce, the lamb with pachamanca sauce a la olla and also the desserts, such as the lucuma soup, cheese ice cream on light olive oil sponge cake and candied walnuts. Undoubtedly the best Peruvian restaurant on the island at the moment.
Best Chef Award. Carlos Mesa
Carlos Mesa, born 26 years ago in the municipality of Adeje, has become one of the promises of Canarian cuisine. He is now head chef at the Muelle Viejo restaurant of the Kanali Group, located in the fishing village of Alcalá, in Guía de Isora, where the food is simple, tasty and close to its surroundings. Here, the tradition is maintained, very typical of the islands, that when you arrive at the restaurant, the first thing you do is look at the counter and choose from the fish on offer that day.
Muelle Viejo, which is advised by chef Juan Carlos Clemente, keeps alive the gastronomy linked to the islands and more specifically with an eye on the coast, where most of the fish and seafood enjoyed in the restaurant comes from. Mesa, to whom the jury of the 36th DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards has awarded the prize for Best Head Chef, maintains a firm conviction in the cuisine known as Kilometre 0.
The aim of this gastronomic project of the Kanali Group, which also has the restaurant El Ancla, on Avenida Europa in El Médano (Granadilla), is to provide diners with a gastronomic experience with the islands' own produce and also has a generous wine cellar with well-known references from the islands.
This chef, who studied cooking and catering at the IES in Adeje, is at the cooker with traditional dishes from the coast of the islands such as shrimps, limpets, octopus, ensaladilla de luxe, as they call it in the restaurant, old stews or grilled chernes, but also rice dishes are his forte.
The restaurant is located on the old quay of Alcalá, with large windows that allow you to enjoy extraordinary views of the Atlantic and the bathers that gather around the boat access ramp.
Best Restaurant Award #Consume Canario. El Duende Del Fuego
The jury of the 36th DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards has awarded the #CONSUME CANARIO prize to the restaurant El Duende del Fuego, located in Los Llanos de Aridane, whose chef and owner aims to ensure that everyone, including those with allergies or intolerances, can eat at his restaurant.
The owner of El Duende del Fuego trained in cooking in La Palma and in Barcelona, at the Escuela Universitaria de Hostelería de Sant Pol de Mar in 2003. He developed his experience in different catering establishments over a period of 16 years in various cities in Europe (Switzerland, Germany and England), as well as in mainland Spain and Andorra.
In 2014 he opened his own business in Los Llanos de Aridane: the Gastro Bar-Restaurant El Duende del Fuego, where he is the chef and owner, where he proposes an approach based on conceptual cuisine and healthy food made with locally sourced and organic produce, which favours a return to flavour, all of which is reflected in a menu that contains dishes adapted for people with food intolerances and allergies. It also stands out in the artisan production of various sausages, pastries and different types of bread, especially the one made with wheat from La Palma and buckwheat for people with coeliac disease.
Empathy", says Pedro Hernández Castillo, is the key word in his business. "Put yourself in the other person's shoes. And so, "people with allergies have priority in my restaurant, the others, let them adapt". One of his best memories is that of a couple with their young daughter, who, as soon as they sat down at the table, took out a case of adrenaline. At the end of the meal, both of them, who were doctors, told him "it's the first time in five years that we've closed the case without using it". Half of his clientele are people with multi-allergies and the rest are tourists.
The restaurant's formula is simple, apparently: fresh, organic, local and allergen-free produce, although Hernández qualifies that "I've never liked things that are easy". And it is certified as a Kilometre Zero certified restaurant with "local artisan product" certification.
Best Work in Wine Award. Altos De Trevejos
The Altos de Trevejos winery, located at an altitude of 1,300 metres in the highest municipality in Spain, Vilaflor, has won the award for Best Work in Wine at the 36th DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards.
This young winery, founded in 2012, is the wine project of the Alfonso and Cabrera families of the Abona Designation of Origin. At the helm is Enrique Alfonso, who in a short period of time has succeeded in producing wines of great quality that have been appreciated and have been a great success with the public.
The winery currently has 23 hectares of vineyards planted on trellises and controls a further 15 hectares of very old goblet-trained vines. The varieties grown are listán blanco, verdello, albillo criollo, malvasía and moscatel de Alejandría, while the red varieties are baboso negro, vijariego, listán prieto and syrah.
The Altos de Trevejos estate is located in the municipality of Vilaflor, in Los Llanos de Trevejos at an altitude of 1,300 metres above sea level, nestled in the highest part of the island and surrounded by pine forests, just a stone's throw from Mount Teide. However, the winery is located in the municipality of San Miguel.
From its production we can highlight the sparkling rosé brut nature or the Mountain Wines production, among which there is the organic listán blanco; listán blanco Mohino Single Vineyard; listán prieto Guayero Single Wineyard; listán blanco and malvasía; listán prieto and malvasía; vijariego negro and malvasía.
The rejuvenation of the Canarian wineries, greater care and attention to the vines, less intervention in the production process and the attractiveness of the labels have been the formula followed by the Canary Islands' wine sector to face its future. An example to follow has undoubtedly been Altos de Trevejos, with Enrique Alfonso at the helm, which has managed to position itself among the best wines that can be tasted today in the Canary Islands.
Prize for the Best Work in the Dissemination of Gastronomy. Andrés Rodríguez
The jury of the 36th DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards has decided to award the prize for Best Work in the Dissemination of Gastronomy to Andrés Rodríguez, for his work as editor and director of the magazine Tapas Mazagine.
Andrés Rodríguez, who is also editor of the Spainmedia group, which also publishes Forbes magazine, has been able to develop a gastronomy magazine that is not a magazine about food or recipes but about people.
And in this formulation lies precisely the success of this magazine, which began to be published in 2015 and since then has managed to win the loyalty of more and more readers. When Andrés Rodríguez received the award for Best Periodical Publication on Paper 2015, awarded by the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, he already said that "this is the best magazine of the moment". It is a project that goes beyond the national scope because it is also distributed in English: Tapas travels around Spain and reaches London, New York, Paris, Milan and San Francisco. Its ambition is to become a global reference". And after some time, it can be said without ambiguity that it has fully achieved this.
Tapas, subtitled 'ñam, ñam magazine...', which is about to reach its 70th issue on the newsstands, is already known as a worldwide brand and a very typical Spanish way of eating, which is miniature gastronomy and which aspires to receive the category of Intangible Cultural Heritage granted by UNESCO.
The appearance of Tapas was a turning point in the Spanish publishing world as it appeared with a totally new concept "by talking about people, identities, since, at any moment of our lives, from birth to death, food and drink are always present". The magazine is open to creative minds and intelligent palates in search of modern and sensitive looks.
Cooking Without Combustion Award. Cuernocabra X Gofio
The Cocina sin Combustión award, sponsored by Philip Morris Spain in the Canary Islands, of the 36th DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards, presented by the DIARIO DE AVISOS Foundation, has gone this year to the CuernoCabra X Gofio restaurant, which is located in the Gourmet space of El Corte Inglés on Avenida José Mesa y López in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The transformation initiated by Philip Morris International to achieve its vision of a smoke-free future has motivated the company in the Canary Islands to support gastronomic spaces that are committed to a cuisine without combustion. The chefs, in the preparation of their dishes, avoid high temperatures, thus dispensing with smoke and favouring the preservation of all the properties and essences of the food.
Philip Morris promotes the creative proposals of the chefs also as a way to contribute to the strengthening of the hotel and catering sector and to highlight the value of Canarian gastronomy.
To this end, an Incombustible Route has been created, comprising an exclusive selection of 55 restaurants and leisure establishments located in the best exclusive areas of the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Among them, nine restaurants have joined the proposal of non-combustion menus. They are San Sebastián, 57; Izakaya LO; Bésame Mucho and Sargo Carbón (all of them in Tenerife) and Triciclo, The Hoock, La Quisquilla de Agaete, El Santo and Cuernocabra (these in Gran Canaria).
The jury of the DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards valued the fact that the chefs based their culinary creations on fresh, unprocessed and zero-kilometre products and evaluated the use of technology and techniques employed, the raw materials, the taste, flavour, textures and aromas, as well as the experience during tasting and the presentation and innovation of each dish.
All these requirements can be found in the restaurant Cuernocabra X Gofio, located in El Corte Inglés, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which has been opened by the Canarian chef Safe Cruz, recognised with a star in the Michelin Guide in his restaurant Gofio, located in Calle Lope de Vega number 9 in Madrid. Cuernocabra is a faithful example of involvement with the Canarian product, respecting the flavours and aromas of the genre, in a cuisine without combustion.
Solidarity Gastronomy Award. Action Against Hunger
More than 9,000 participating restaurants and more than 1.4 million euros raised is the balance of the 12 editions of the solidarity initiative Restaurants against Hunger developed by the NGO Action against Hunger, which is aimed at fighting malnutrition in the world, which currently causes the death of 3.1 million children a year. The last edition was also dedicated to helping families affected by the COVID crisis in Spain and in the almost 50 countries where it works.
Acción contra el Hambre has won the Gastronomía Solidaria award at the 36th DIARIO DE AVISOS Gastronomy Awards for this action, sponsored by chefs Quique Dacosta and Susi Díaz, who have encouraged the hotel and catering sector to take part in it despite the "complex circumstances" they are going through due to the COVID pandemic.
In this last campaign, which ended on 15 November, 267 restaurants from 17 autonomous communities, including the Canary Islands, took part. To join the campaign, the restaurants had to donate from 0.50 to 2 euros of a solidarity menu every time a customer ordered it. Diners can contribute to the fight against hunger when they go to eat at these solidarity restaurants by choosing the dishes on the menu indicated as solidarity dishes (identified with a sticker) or by photographing the QR code printed on the leaflets placed on the tables and collaborating with a free donation.
It should be noted that in 2020, due to the emergency caused by COVID-19, the Restaurants Against Hunger campaign focused on supporting the families hardest hit by the crisis in Spain by providing food aid cards.
Source: https://abocados.es/
