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An old star from the previous century still shines brightly in Port Vell. Renovated in 1992, La Estrella is a small, comfortable restaurant that serves simple but refined Catalan dishes, thoughtfully prepared from quality local products. The atmosphere is formal but relaxed, quiet and friendly, with the time kept by the discreet sounding of three wall clocks. It feels like eating in someone’s home.

Josefa Chiquillo, great-grandmother of the current owner, Jordi Baidal, opened La Estrella in 1920 as a kind of travelers’ inn. In 1924, Chiquillo cooked her first meal for guests, turning the place into a restaurant, which she called “Casa de Comidas y Fonda La Estrella.” Since then, a great deal has unfolded, including the Spanish Civil War, a dictatorship, democracy and the Olympics, which were the impetus for the renovation. Baidal has reprinted letters, papers and invoices – treasures – from the old days on the end papers of the restaurant’s current hardbound menu.

The menu’s contents, created by Baidal and his wife, Josefa Villada, are short and sweet and include big, classic preparations such as veal entrecote and steak and other, somewhat more sophisticated, meat options like reindeer carpaccio with parmesan. The house specialties, however, feature seafood with traditional sauces and seasonal vegetables. The cooking here is thoroughly Catalan, with a little French and even less Italian influence here and there.

One of La Estrella’s most beloved specialties is the starter of chickpeas with prawns, served in a clay casserole. The chickpeas have been divested of their papery skins and are tender and delicate, the grilled prawns offer their sweet, marine flavors, and everything is bound by a rich, earthy garlic confit mousseline. The last time we visited La Estrella, Baidal surprised us with some canyuts, small razor clams from the Ebro Delta – with a protected designation of origin, no less – which he grilled and served with a traditional picada of toasted almonds and hazelnuts crushed in a mortar with olive oil. It’s a mixture that has been used since medieval times, and perhaps even earlier, to thicken sauces and intensify flavors.

Cod, a cornerstone ingredient of Spanish and Catalan cooking, is another standout at La Estrella. Baidal cooks the morro, considered the best part and found along the back, close to the head, of specimens that are more than 10 years old. (The very best morro usually comes from cod that’s between 20 and 30 years old.) Many of his cod preparations are based on old Catalan recipes, such as those served with that garlic mousseline or romesco sauce (made from red pepper, almonds and bread), with spinach and pine nuts. The wonderful Lenten cod, stewed with artichokes, chickpeas, hard-boiled eggs, olive oil, onion, garlic, tomato and paprika, is a masterpiece.

Like an aged cheese or cellared wine, La Estrella has gotten better with time. We can’t wait to see what the future brings.

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Published on August 13, 2014

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