Francis Paniego, chef of El Portal Echaurren, received the National Gastronomy Prize in the category of Best Chef from the hands of Industry Minister, Jose Manuel Soria, in a ceremony at the Hotel NH Eurobuilding in Madrid.
Prize awarded by the Royal Spanish Academy of Gastronomy is a recognition of “the trajectory of the successful and prolific Spanish cuisine” said its president Rafael Anson.
The big news this year was the new delivery system based on the Oscar Awards (three nominees per category and opening envelope with the winner’s name). So in the category of Best Chef, Paniego has managed to win this title which also opted two great cooks: the Andalusian Angel Lion Aponiente (Puerto de Santamaría, Cádiz) and Catalan Jordi Cruz ABaC (Barcelona), who were nominated as finalists.
Paniego has recognized that he was nervous since May. After the ceremony could see a Francis Paniego excited to receive an award that his mother, Marisa Sanchez Paniego, won 25 years ago. And in this line has explained that his family is an example that a restaurant can pass from father to son “if it is respected what was done in the past“.” In fact, says his mother and her croquetas “are on a altar” in the gastronomic concept of the restaurant.
Paniego learned to love and dominate the kitchen of his mother, the great Marisa Sanchez, who also possesses this recognition since 1987, and today is one of the great values of Spanish cuisine. In 2004 turned his restaurant, El Portal Echaurren, into the first restaurant of La Rioja to get a Michelin star.