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the new Spanish restaurant at the center of , is inspired by love. Specifically, Chef Rub茅n Garc铆a’s love for the women in his family that created the cuisine he grew up with.
鈥淲hat we’re serving here is what I’ve been eating all my life. 鈥� My aunts, my grandmother and my mother, what they cook for me,鈥� Garc铆a told WTOP. 鈥淚 grew up with all the matriarchs in my family surrounding me in the kitchen.鈥�
Garc铆a has a long history in the D.C. restaurant scene, working with celebrity chef Jos茅 Andr茅s to run multiple restaurant concepts. To open Casa Teresa, he left his creative director position at that he helped create.
鈥淚’ve been working for many, many years, working under the wing of great chefs鈥� I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing here without them,鈥� Garc铆a acknowledged.
Now, he is ready to combine his technical background with the original cooking lessons from the people that inspired him to become a chef: his family.
鈥淭he best way to do my own thing was coming back to my roots, kind of a way to start over,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s a really honest cooking that we are doing here.鈥�
Celebrating love and the ‘power’ of sharing a table
This Valentine’s Day, Garc铆a is celebrating romantic love with a seven-course meal inspired by his Catalonian roots, including a seafood starter that takes a twist on traditional recipes.
Garc铆a said he believes 鈥渁 sign of love is sharing,鈥� and that the act of sharing a table 鈥渋s so powerful.鈥� During the holidays, he reminisces about the foods he was introduced to at large family celebrations where everyone brought a dish and tried 鈥渢o show off.鈥�
One of the special foods that stuck with him since the first time he tasted it at 12 years old was oysters.
鈥淎nd I was like, 鈥榃here have you been all my life?鈥欌�� Garc铆a recalled of when his aunt fed him the briny shellfish.
For Valentine’s, diners are served plump East Coast oysters with a traditional escabeche sauce, made with cooked down vinegar, zesty vegetables and saffron. Meat or fish are usually cooked down in the sauce, but Garc铆a instead has blended it into a vibrant topping that, along with a fresh crack of pepper, mingles perfectly with the raw seafood.
鈥淪o you have this really briny, sweet texture of the oyster with these tangy and saffron flavor themes,鈥� Garc铆a described. 鈥淥ne of my favorite combinations.鈥�
And as for the famous properties of oysters, Garc铆a jokingly said, 鈥渟ome say this an aphrodisiac 鈥� Let’s see what happens at the end of the meal.鈥�
Scallops are also featured on the appetizer platter and are another food that Garc铆a associates with family, specifically 鈥渆ating like a pile of them鈥� at bars with his father.
鈥淲e have an amazing bay scallops grower 鈥� like 45 minutes from here, they do a little tiny one,鈥� Garc铆a said. These local bay scallops also align with Casa Teresa鈥檚 focus on 鈥渉igh end products鈥� and collaborating with smaller distributors.
Another sauce with a twist on traditional Spanish cooking accompanies the local bay scallops.
鈥淲e’re gonna serve it raw with the oysters and in this case, with an ajo blanco sauce,鈥� he said. 鈥�Ajo blanco is a soup, it’s basically the mother of the gazpacho.鈥�
Ajo blanco was created before tomatoes were introduced to the Spanish peninsula, Garc铆a explained, so the 鈥渞eally, really basic鈥� soup is made with 鈥渂read, garlic, almonds, water and olive oil.鈥�
His application of the soup to raw scallops is anything but basic, dotted with flavorful olive oil and a little slice of grape that adds complexity to the tender meat of the scallop.
The last featured shellfish at first glance doesn鈥檛 seem Spanish at all, with the original recipe hailing from the Wild West, but Garc铆a said this recipe has a special place in his family.
鈥淪o, there was a dish that my aunt Sofia used to make only one time a year,鈥� he explained. 鈥淎nd that was for New Year’s Eve. And it was shrimp cocktail.鈥�
Garc铆a said she made the dish every year because it was delicious and 鈥渟he thought it was fancy,鈥� but now the dish represents 鈥渁 lot of good memories鈥� as it became a staple of holidays spent with family.
His version of the American classic uses a homemade cocktail sauce with some added 鈥渟ecret鈥� ingredients, plus a light pipirrana聽salad made of diced cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and a light dressing. The Spanish salad adds lightness to a traditionally creamy appetizer.
The drink pairing for this first course also breaks tradition. Wine director Sarah Vanags chose a Spanish cider, called “Poma 脕urea” by Trabanco, that tastes almost like 鈥渁n effervescent, sparkling wine,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t has really high notes of apples, it鈥檚 really, really earthy, and has a lot of nice dryness, nice acidity, that is going to go really perfect with seafood. It鈥檚 a perfect combination,鈥� Vanags explained. 鈥淲e thought we鈥檇 go in a little bit of a different direction and highlight some of the interesting Spanish drinks that you can get.鈥�
Highlighting women’s contributions to Spanish cuisine
Vanags and Garc铆a have created a unique wine list for the restaurant overall, with over 25 vermouths featured on their menu (and vermouth flights on the way), plus a focus on women-owned Spanish wineries.
鈥淭he wine menu that we have representing most of the woman producers in Spain 鈥� it’s a thank you. It’s a recognition 鈥� for the work,鈥� Garc铆a said. 鈥淏ecause I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know there were so many women producers and wine producers in Spain with such an amazing quality of wine until we started this project.鈥�
He was inspired to feature women producers in his restaurant by its namesake 鈥� his great-grandmother Teresa Espinosa Moreno.
鈥淪o my [great] grandmother Teresa was the first woman in the history of Spain that created and lead a political party in defense of the working woman in Spain,鈥� Garc铆a explained.
He grew up in a family that really respected the work Teresa had done and the care she displayed for her community and her loved ones, he said.
鈥淲e’re really proud of what she did. And it means a lot for me and my family,鈥� Garc铆a said.
Garc铆a hopes he can bring that same care for his community at his restaurant and highlight 鈥渢he real heroes, in the Spanish gastronomy history鈥� in his cooking.
鈥淪panish cuisine, as we see it, is being created in someone’s house always, not the restaurants, in someone’s house by a woman. 鈥� Unfortunately, in times where food wasn’t accessible, they needed to find ways to feed their families,鈥� Garc铆a said. That ingenuity 鈥渋s what we’re celebrating here.鈥�
Garc铆a is taking on a lot at his four-month-old restaurant, including recreating family traditions, honoring his great-grandmother鈥檚 activism and shining a light on the women that created Spanish cuisine.
He executes his vision gracefully with the Valentine鈥檚 Day menu, upending tradition while highlighting how familial food and delicious memories are the focus of Casa Teresa.
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