THE ‘CHOCOLATE’ RESTAURANT, A GASTRONOMIC LEGEND

Where the world came to be called Vilaxoán, the land is so beautiful that it is mirrored in shallow waters, generous, of balanced salt, sweetened by the abundant contribution of the rivers Ulla and Umia. The Salnés bathes in the sea of Arousa dressed in its shapes and colors, smiling with pleasure from its sandy beaches, knowing that it is admired by the beautiful Barbanza, on the opposite shore. The Atlantic sweetly penetrates the most extensive of the Rías Baixas, splendid as her sisters, of a flirtatious, cuddly, confident beauty.

From Sálvora, at the mouth, to Cortegada, at the head, the estuary is dotted with coves, nooks and crannies, islands, islets, sandy banks, sandbars, wooded hills that plunge into the sea.

They are a sea and a land that must be looked upon with grateful respect for the much they have given to this micro-universe called Galicia, strategically located in the European Finisterre, on the course of the great maritime transits, at the end of the path of the stars. The times, the tides and the travelers have brought with them good and less acceptable things, but the natural fruits of the orchard and the seabed are unquestionable in excellence and abundance. Smuggling and smuggling are part of the idiosyncrasy, have arisen from necessity and listeza, and have been contaminated with greed. The gold here went up in smoke, and the rest is better left unsaid.

The physical configuration of the sea of Arousa allows a high production of phytoplankton, with a characteristic flow, which makes this estuary famous for its marine wealth. It is the area with the highest production of mussels in the world, cultivated in floating nurseries, the famous “bateas”. In addition to shellfish, there are abundant species of fish such as sardines, anchovies, horse mackerel, mackerel… The relief of the estuary is prone to the formation of extensive sandbanks such as those of Sarrido and Lombos, where bivalves are bred: clams, cockles…

On land, the Salnés Arousa is relatively flat, right up to the Castrove mountain range, which separates the Rías de Arousa and Pontevedra. The countryside is characterized by smallholding plots generally cultivated with horticultural products: Padrón peppers, tomatoes, lettuce and leguminous plants, and vines, mainly white grapes, with varieties such as loureira, caíño blanco, treixadura, albariña… making possible the production of the Rías Baixas denomination wine. Red grapes are also grown, with varieties such as red caíño, round leaf,… natural key to Barrantes wine, pink grape, Catalan, very sweet but with higher acidity.

MANOLO “CHOCOLATE”

In Villajuan, now Vilaxoán, Manuel Cores was born, just one year after Julio Camba, the globetrotter from Vilanova, published “La Casa de Lúculo” or “El Arte de Comer”, in whose prologue -Hors d́oeuvre- says that “in the lack of resources is where appetite begins, the basis of gastronomy”.

Manolo was born from the union of Alberto Cores and Joaquina Rodríguez, “Petadeira” -caller-, who sold at home what she kneaded: corn empanadas and brona bread, roscas for Easter. They were successors of noble lineages such as the Montenegro -Joaquín Montenegro Mascato, one of the last Spanish adventurers, a man of business such as sugar cane or fishing in Negros Island, Philippines, was brother of great-grandmother Ángela Montenegro-, and distant relative of the Valle Inclán family, administrator of the alfolí of Laxe, and also of Cunqueiro’s father, apothecary in Mondoñedo, and possibly also of Fray Benito Jerónimo Feijoó y Montenegro, one of the most preclarcated minds of the History of Galicia.

That child had to resolve his childhood and youthful yearnings, and his economy, as the son of people who knew how to earn a living but who had nothing to spare. He played in the atrium of the church, and there Francisco Couso “Chuco” nicknamed him with fortune “Chocolateiro”, because Manolo liked to snack on some chocolate that his grandmother gave him. Those were the years of the Civil War.

– I never went hungry, I never needed anything,” the innkeeper used to say.

In those times, life brought to Vilaxoán a hairdresser from Ferrol, called Maestro Antero, who taught most of the inhabitants of the area to play chess, checkers, mus, and even to some of them their first rudimentary letters. One of them, Jesús Doblado, would send him a letter of thanks, which the barber hung on the bulletin board. The letter read: 

“Upon receipt hereof I hope you are well from all………………..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,”, commas and periods are for you to place where they are”.

Manolo was part of that school of life, of horizons. When he was about fourteen or fifteen years old he was a “atendelumes”, a kitchen assistant, later an amateur boxer, and a young and brave young man already recognized in the popular festivals such as those of Santa Rita.

Thanks to the license obtained during his military service in La Coruña, he ended up as “chofeur” of some businessmen, which allowed him to get to know Galicia and the North of Spain; to eat in the best restaurants, in the eating houses established by the cooks of the great pazos, whose menus were made up of recipes brought from rich Europe by their ladies, such as the Pardo Bazán; to discover the quality of the waters… All this enriched his portentous mind.

Later, as a truck driver, as a transporter of the fruits of the sea, he traveled throughout Spain and Europe. To his genetics, his concerns and his knowledge, he would join other experiences, more or less countable. In Barcelona, he worked in the most renowned establishments, covering his extra expenses with the sale of his truck’s spare wheels. In the Basque Country he tasted grilled fish and barbecues, which he imitated by cutting a can of diesel oil into two halves; in France he discovered great wines, cognacs, sauces…

Intelligence, curiosity, the commercial experience of the trapicheo, the sense of opportunity, daring, the marriage with Josefa Muñiz -daughter of a Malagueña and a Galician boatswain, settled in Trincherpe, expert in fish and Andalusian and northern recipes-, the help of Joaquina Rodríguez, his mother, and of Ángela Cores, his sister, and some luck, enabled Manolo Cores to awaken his predisposition, to finance and finally to formulate as a business “a tavern in which something was cooked”, and which would evolve into a modest steakhouse and, finally, into the restaurant with the best cooking facilities in Spain, spacious, bright, with windows, in which “Chocolate” was portrayed with a hat, trident and steaks weighing one kilo or more… Later the hotel would arrive.

It is evident that, at least on this occasion, nature and human beings combined to offer a truly miraculous result.

THE RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Worldly flour, live flour, hot and cold water, mastery of salt and embers, knowledge of fish and good meats, the Livis Pineapple, palate, sense of smell, recipes, good equipment, exquisite wines, contribution of cognacs, armagnacs, calvados? ambition to meet the challenges of an increasingly demanding and sybaritic clientele, to surprise his breadth of vision, the experience of travels in Spain and France, and good public relations skills – “despite selling meals, not smiles”-, the proximity of Cambados and the Gran Hotel de La Toja, the Rías Biaxas, the meeting with Alejandro Fernández and the influence in the creation of the first winery in the Ribera del Duero, the Petrus, the Galician whites… word of mouth… Something magical combined circumstances and in them put the ingredients for an unprecedented success.

The chance of life, like a knight-errant of the kitchen, would take Manolo Cores to the Festival de Roda de Bará, and from there to fame, to the radios and televisions… Then came the couché paper, Venezuela -on November 27, 1983 he inaugurated the Chocolate restaurant in that country-, Miami, the Caribbean, Julio Iglesias, Liz Taylor, Sammy Davis Jr… cities, islands, celebrities, experiences… Successes and mistakes that made up the life of a Galician capable of inviting the richest and most important people to eat at the best restaurant in Nassau, “so that you don’t take me for your servant”… And back to Vilaxoán… where Josefa had remained at the helm of the flagship of Galician gastronomy… the epic returned to the mythical… and only a brief and very unfortunate incursion was allowed in Madrid.

ÁLVARO CUNQUEIRO

Cunqueiro was a great, round, imaginative, cook, gourmet, cordial, decisive, friend, a personality from whom one could learn that pork can be dissected as if it were Roman provinces, into hams, lacones…; and also to understand Galicia as a continent, full of countries and capitals, from Miño to Eo, with the peculiar gastronomies of its regions, with its golds or liquid red topazes, in the form of Albariño or Ribeiro or Barrantes. Merlin’s father taught us that in food man put even more imagination than in love or war, and that it is an essential virtue to accommodate friendship in after-dinner meals under the vine or in the warmth of the fireplace.

Cunqueiro knew stories of chef’s hats with heads underneath, such as that of Carême, undiscoverable before Tsar Alexander of Russia himself; or that of Manolo Cores, ahistorical, granite, investigating all the aromas of his mother’s kitchen, of the pazos and monasteries, of the eating houses and of the great restaurants, to elevate them on the gastronomic altar of Vilaxoán with the bread and salt of life, made with the flour from which the muiñeiras came out, to mix it with the natural flavor of the seafood of Arousa, of which Luis Villaverde knew so much.

To the above, we must add the bohemian advantage of Fadrique, the knowledge of Maestro Antero, the intelligent Galicianism of García Sabell or Albor, the communication of Luis del Olmo, the marketing of Julio Iglesias, the brilliant intuition of Víctor Sueiro, the altruistic initiative of the Friends of Galician Cuisine, the institutional support of Crespo Alfaya, the demand of the customers, the love, work and human understanding of Josefa, the children, the friendship of many and the convenience of many others? ingredients with which Manolo Cores formulated the magic recipe, the magic spell of a legendary reality: the “Chocolate” Restaurant.

OTHER GREAT “PERSOEIROS”

Praise God for uniting Álvaro Cunqueiro, Carlos Valle Inclán and Manolo… praise God for making them friends and allowing them to be friends in the land of ten thousand rivers and a thousand springs and a million cows, in a paradise of fishing and hunting; praise God for linking them by origin, vocation and maybe by the common blood of the Montenegro family, for uniting them in the privilege of intelligence, in the love of good food and for being good and generous Galicians… God be praised for linking them with Cela, García Sabell, Gerardo Fernández Albor, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Filgueira Valverde, José María Castroviejo, Francisco Fernández del Riego; Augusto Fadrique del Río, brother of Cucuta, sons of Don Eugenio Fadrique founder of “La Artística” of Vigo; with the villagarciano Juan Jesús Buhigas Villaverde, film and television producer, or Manuel Fernández Tapias and his siblings, Blanco Tobío, Celso Collazo and María Antonia Dans, Borobó, Pío Cabanillas, Antonio D. Olano, Alejandro Armesto, the Villot family, Jorge Víctor Sueiro, Manuel Fraga, Francisco Vázquez, the Cambón family, Emilio Mosquera Miñán “Trico”… Making good the divine design, they “were those who were able to associate their earthly substance to the place where they are from and thus perceive to its very core, the bond that ties them to the land that supports them; to feel the secret essence of things incorporated into their own and to commune with their land in a feast of love”, as the Count of Clermont-Tonnerre used to say.

They were novelists, doctors, playwrights, journalists, gourmets, singers, painters, politicians, businessmen, sportsmen, aristocrats, hoteliers… in a list in which it is essential to mention Juan Domingo Perón, Néstor Luján, Luis del Olmo, Julio Iglesias, Marcelino Oreja, Adolfo Suárez, Luis María and Rafael Ansón, Manolo Santana, Jesús de Polanco, Enrique Múgica, don Juan de Borbón, Olarvide…

They followed in the footsteps of the first client, a traveler from “Singer”, who ate empanada and sea bream and paid 13 pesetas in 1969, and the first great personage, Fernando María Castiella, Minister of Foreign Affairs, invited to dinner by Carlos María del Valle Inclán. Franco’s Minister was somewhat annoyed, because he had been transferred from Lavacolla airport to Vilaxoán in the middle of the rainy night, through roads full of twists and turns, and he knew that he would have to return by the same way and at late hours to the Hostal de Los Reyes Católicos, where he was staying. He dined opulently, scallop empanada, fish soup, hot shrimp, prepared by Josefa, and grilled turbot, Manolo’s masterpiece, but the restaurateurs had the feeling that something had bothered him, because he left without saying anything. Their surprise would be that, the next day, they were called by the Hostal to reserve a table on behalf of Don Fernando Castiella, who wanted to repeat the menu. After coffee, the personage made the Cores sit at his table and congratulated them for their magnificent good work.

…During the transition, eleven ministers appeared at the same time, without knowing that the others were coming… Perhaps some of this is due to an invaluable supporter of many of the relevant presences in “Chocolate”, Tomás Tarilonte, director of the Gran Hotel de La Toja, and his wife Marisa.

In the most absolute confidentiality, in endless get-togethers, in “Chocolate” they cooked up implausibilities, big business, affairs of state, games of mus between the cook Cores and President Suarez, laughter, cosmic barbarities, love affairs, art collections, wine cellars, conspiracies, betrayals, Spanish history, extravagances… and an immeasurable love for Galicia, a singular devotion for the land and its people, for its table and its culture, for its dreams…

The whole world passed through Vilaxoán.

CHOCOLATE CULTURE

It was enough to dial 986 50 11 99 to access that cosmos of inspiration and magic, to enjoy three suns of the Traveler’s Guide or one of the first Michelin Stars of Galician cuisine, as recorded in the book “50 masters of Spanish cuisine”, by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán – awarded in 1971, the year in which it was also awarded to two other greats of Galician cuisine, the restaurants “Solla” in Poio and “Mosquito” in Vigo – (other sources, such as the Cancela family, refer to 1980). In the Campsa Guide, the “Chocolate” was mentioned as one of the best possible wine cellars, with all the good things from Galicia, Spain, France, Germany and Portugal, as well as a second cellar of liquors and spirits “difficult to match”. The telephone was the lucky number, the one that opened the doors of “Chocolate”, the best restaurant in Galicia according to Jorge Víctor Sueiro and “possibly the only one in the world where the oysters opened in the hand”.

The lineage of Galician gourmets: Emilia Pardo Bazán, Picadillo, Julio Camba, Álvaro Cunqueiro… reached the sky in the kitchens of Josefa Muñiz and Manolo Cores… The modern cuisine of Galicia was founded on July 4, 1969, where the world was called Vilaxoán and “Chocolate”. Manolo passed away with the year 2015, a December 31, which must be marked in black in the great history of Galician gastronomy.

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Alberto Barciela, Spanish journalist, is vice-president of EditoRed.

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