EDITION!

Casa Lucio
MARIA DIAS
Viladomat, 59 (Sant Antoni).
T. 93 424 44 01. P: €45.
Over 18 years ago, Casa Lucio was
one of the first wine cellars in the
city to serve tapas and more
substantial dishes to accompany
the wines they displayed on their
shelves, as well as top-quality
fresh products that not only formed
the basis of the menu, but which
you could – and still can – buy to
take home. The formula was a
success. Today, Casa Lucio has
been refurbished, incorporating an
open-air bar space as an anteroom
to the impressive dining room. This
is the setting for the exquisite and
original dishes created by Maribel,
one of the great Catalan chefs, who
has now been joined by her son
Alex, doubling the pleasures and
sensations offered by her cooking.
Alex has studied Asian cuisine
but doesn’t want to upstage the
spirit and criteria that his mother’s
cooking has established.
Recommendations are tricky
because, unintentionally, Maribel
and Alex have created something
unheard of on Barcelona’s
restaurant scene – two styles of
cooking from a single kitchen.
Maribel’s callos (beef tripe with
chickpeas), pork tripe with
Caesar’s mushrooms, yellowfootmushroom
omelette, and salt cod
with clams are without equal.
Alex’s cep sashimi with a conserve
of ceps (aka funghi porcini), black
chanterelles and Caesar’s
mushrooms, his gilt-head bream
tartare, Iberian pork fillet teriyaki,
and low temperature–cooked
salt cod with a basil pil-pil sauce
reveal a young chef who draws
inspiration from culinary traditions
at home and abroad. ‘This is a
renovation,’ says Alex, ‘and a
promise that we’ll carry on
developing without walking
roughshod over our traditions. I
don’t have a specific style and it
would be pretentious of me to
invent one for myself. What I do is
the result of combining the best
imported ingredients used in
Peruvian, Thai and Japanese
cuisine with the traditional way of
doing things.’
Regulars at this original and
tasteful restaurant welcome this
new wave that has revitalised the
menu at Casa Lucio, long
considered one of the best places
to eat on a highly competitive local
dining scene. –
THE BILL
(For 2)
1 vermouth with ‘Gilda’ pintxos.. €17
1 cep sashimi ............................€14
1 salt cod with clams ................ €18
1 pork tripe with mushrooms..... €15
2 PiR (Priorat) ...........................€14
2 coffees. .....................................€2
TOTAL (inc VAT)....................... €80
Time Out Barcelona Food & Drink
critics review anonymously and
pay their own bills.
Buy tickets & book restaurants at www.timeout.com/barcelona & bcnshop.com 55