Enrique Dacosta

A colorful, catchy, enchanting pop charm… According to gourmet-photographer Bob Noto, Quique Dacosta is the spanish cuisine’s Paul McCartney: a less problematic mind than Andoni Luis Aduriz-John Lennon’s; yet even melody can lead us to think cleverly as we dance with our foot to its rhythm under a table… His mentor Rafael Garcia Santos says he’s the second best chef in the world: he’s just 35 but he already spread many seminal recipes throughout the world. Ever heard about Ostra Guggenheim? A contemporary Carême with a techno-dreamy appeal, a small and big centaur, nature and artifice with a surrealistic dissolving impact.

Quique was born in 1972 in Jarandilla de la Vera while her mother was a hotel maitresse. In 1986 he entered or the first time the prophetic doorstep of a restaurant. But wearing a toque is still a mirage: thousand of dirty dishes and a sponge full of soap await him. But his eye looked beyond: he would soon attend the hotel management school while wandering from one restaurant to another. His kitchen debut was a classic: when a pizza chef fled with no forewarning, his owner dressed him with an apron. Then he went working to different places such as bar de tapas, breweries, enotheque plus a long list of books on his night table until he came to Denia, a smiling city inside the valencian community where in 1992 he opened the El Poblet age, the restaurant that later would grow up with him up to a third Michelin star (under the name of Quique Dacosta, that replaced El Poblet).

Starting from a modest commis position, in 3 years he became the head chef, also thanks to his far sighted patron Tomas Arribas, a clever talent scout and food excellencies lover. As a self-taught or so, like sponges Quique absorbed the ideas of Spanish avant-garde as a customer and reader, without attending courses or workshops. Technique and fantasy were enough to forge his personal style, who found his perfect way in 1996 new Poblet. Every year untiring Quique launch his collection with the merciless of a trendsetter, being them gel, metal or aloe veils or edible landscapes. The last frontier is Vuelve Carolina, un tapas bar in Calle Correos 8 in Valencia.