Are these the new 'tascas ilustradas'?

[pedro]

The revered institution of the tasca ilustrada, with its relatively simple but succulent cooking which mastered traditional dishes, has been for some time an endangered species. While paying a visit to Taberna Laredo, near the Retiro park in Madrid, I wondered myself is these kind of places --like Asturianos, Taberneros, Entrevinos and el Quinto Vino to name some of the best-- aren't in fact the next wave of the tascas ilustradas. Their cooking, with a few creative/modern/actual winks here and there, is usually rooted in traditional and powerful dishes, be them fabada, morcillo or baby lamb chops. These dishes have been reviewed and in many cases, successfully updated: a shorter cooking time of fishes, lighter sauces, but the heritage is clear. And luckily, they also share another characteristic: they tend to have a pretty good wine list.

So what do you think, are the tascas ilustradas disappearing or they're reinventing themselves and adopting new shapes?

[vserna]

They're absolutely reinventing themselves - and the new concept of 'wine bar' has given the tasca a new lease on life. I am just sorry that some of these new guys can't take over some of the beloved, atmospheric old establishments and renew them, instead of these disappearing forever and new bars/restaurants opening elsewhwere instead, with good food and wine but none of that old charm (except in cases such as Asturianos, where the tavern has been going for almost 50 years...). It's the structure of the restaurant market that's so inflexible that it makes for such an absurd juxtaposition of openings/closings...

Some other names to add to those you offer, in Madrid (which is the real home of the 'tasca ilustrada' in Spain), and including some I mentioned in my post on new openings, are Casa Vila, La Camarilla, La Castela, Las Tortillas de Gabino, Txirimiri, El Fogón de Trifón, Casa Carola.

[anyavon]

What is the difference between taberna, tasca and meson?

[vserna]

These are sometimes interchangeable, Anya. 'Mesón' (from the Latin 'mansio', but probably through the French 'maison') is almost a synonym for 'posada': it's an inn serving food and offering rooms. In the older times, the name 'mesón' would probably mean that the food was the most important feature of the inn, while 'posada' would stress its character as a boarding place, but the distinction remains very loose.

'Taberna' and 'tasca' are currently synonyms, even though originally 'tasca' referred to a bar of ill repute - let's say, like a honky tonk in the southern United States. But in Madrid, by the middle of the 19th century, the preferred name for a tavern was 'tasca'. Over a century ago, some of these taverns began serving some simple food in addition to coarse La Mancha wine; usually, when the owner's wife or daughter was a good cook and the family found that serving some solid fare was a nice income supplement! These taverns with food received the name, 'tasca ilustrada', 'illustrated tavern' (or 'tavern with a plus'), which has remained a Madrid specialty.

Doña María Aroca of Casa Aroca, who began cooking in the 1930s and continued until the 1980s, when she was felled by a stroke, was the most legendary of the 'tasca ilustrada' cooks - a modest, no-frills, Spanish counterpart to the fabled Lyon 'mères'. No one has ever done a fried Dover sole like her in Spain - and no one ever will (among other things, because her 'trick', combining two separate sources of gas in her stove to give her the most powerful fire in Spain, would be strictly outlawed today!)

[anyavon]

Thank you Victor. So it was only in the 19th century that tabernas began serving food--before that they were strictly drinking houses? From reading Lorenzo Diaz and talking to him I was under the impression that the practice dates back earlier... What would Botin be, a meson or a fonda?

And is it true that Manchegos were mainly in charge of the taberna trade and that the region's cuisine defined Madrid's popular dining early on? (Again, this was what Diaz had told me). What would be some of the dishes you'd eat in a 19th century Madrid taberna?

[vserna]

Tabernas and tascas were strictly drinking places until the late 19th century - this is precisely why the term 'tasca ilustrada' was coined, to distinguish them from regular 'tascas'. When Botín was opened in 1725 (purportedly by a Frenchman, Jean Bottin), it was as a 'posada', an inn. There is some discussion about the legal situation in the early 18th century - were inns permitted to serve food then, or not? Some say that Botín never was a proper restaurant until the late 19th century, while in earlier times its fabled stone oven was used to bake pastries only.

I find little historical proof of the prevalence of Manchegos in the trade. I believe it was people from both Old and New Castile, and also León, who ran the business. The names of old Madrid taverns and inns attest to that: La Zamorana, Mesón del Segoviano, El Maragato. There were of course quite a few Manchegos plying their trade, too - but nowhere near a Manchego monopoly of Madrid's inns. As for Madrid's (quite limited) own cuisine, there's a very obvious fact: its main dish, cocido madrileño, is a boiled dinner that does not particularly resemble any Manchego dish, but is closely related to northern Spanish dishes such as olla podrida or pote. So I think the main influence was Old Castile.

[anyavon]

What would be a good source on the history of Madrid dining--I have all of Lorenzo's books, plus books from Manuel Martinez Llopis that he gave me way back (what a wonderful charcater he was). Is there anything lucid and brief and reliable to use as reference?

[vserna]

Nothing recent or comprehensive. There was a history of Lhardy by Juan Altabella that's now out of print, plus there's always the dated (1970) but interesting Libro de la Cocina Española by Néstor Luján and Joan Perucho:

http://www.fnac.es/dsp/?servlet=extended.H...5&prodID=428379

[butterfly]

Reviving an old thread... I thought I'd nominate another tasca ilustrada that I haven't seen mentioned here:

Nunc est bibendum

Cava Alta, 13

91 366 52 10

Like most of these other places, they also have a good menu del día.