Experience the last night of the year with a special emotion. He assures this with euphoria and happiness, something inherent in the Corral de la Morería. Because if magic reigns every day in this flamenco tablao, which awards a Michelin star for its cuisine, the New Year's Eve elf is something that tears Blanca Ávila Molina (Córdoba, 1946) apart inside. At the age of 14 she came to this place, to the Plaza de Las Vistillas, as a dancer. Five years later she married the owner and founder Manuel del Rey, from whom she took the last name for her stage name. He studied art history and continues to pursue his passion for flamenco. After her husband's death, she asked her two sons, Juan Manuel and Armando del Rey, to quit their respective jobs and help her run the store. According to the New York Times, it is one of the places to visit before you die.
Questions. It's Thursday and three days before the end of the year you're full of anticipation.
Answer. It's time to give thanks for many things. Because I know that the atmosphere is wonderful: chefs, waiters, we all have the same predisposition to make the evening unique. There is a good show, a gastronomic menu and excellent wines. But the best thing is that we have customers who keep coming back. I remember Omar Sharif often came with his family to say goodbye to the year.
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Q Have you always had this cosmopolitan vibe?
R. When I got to the corral I couldn't believe it. Here the Duchess of Alba came to the Marchioness of Llanzol, dressed in Balenciaga. I come from Córdoba, lived in the post-war period and was impressed by the number of people who passed by this house. We even fed Che Guevara here. I told my husband who he was and that I had seen him in a photo my brother had brought back from Germany. When he came out, he put on his cap and left. Everyone passes through here. The Rolling Stones always come, they like to see the show and the food.
Q El Corral has gone around the world with the photos of Genoveva Casanova and the Crown Prince of the Danish Crown
R. I wasn't there and found out it was him when it was released. Many people come here who go unnoticed. Love stories were invented here. Once a princess from Savoy asked my husband to attend her wedding to an actor. She wanted to get married that same night and my husband had to wake up a priest to perform the wedding. We experienced very powerful stories.
Q To count.
R. One evening the Shah of Persia had dinner here with his then wife Soraya. At another table sat an Iranian girl celebrating the completion of her architecture studies. He asked my husband to introduce him to the Shah. The following year this girl married him. It was Farah Diba. Then we learned that the singer Fosforito, who was performing that evening, had been invited to the event. It's unbelievable what's happening here, like John Lennon.
Q What happened to the Beatle?
R. We had already closed when journalist Antonio D. Olano, who came with John Lennon, knocked on the door. And he asked us that he just wanted to see how the Spanish guitar was played. He left at seven in the morning.
Q But the success of the Corral cannot be understood without its gastronomy.
R. They've always gone together, flamenco and cooking. When it opened in 1956, it served caviar, Thermidor lobster, Menier sole, grilled sirloin, bouillabaisse and exquisite Norwegian salmon. Everything was delicacy, it was French inspired cuisine.
Q Now they serve a different kind of cuisine.
R. Now you have to offer creativity. Our chef David García and his team prepare unique dishes using the delicious base of Spanish cuisine and products. They have accomplished a wonderful alchemy. The chef is like a sculptor who sculpts a bust that must be made of good stone that gives it class. We were pioneers in opening a different model of tablao, giving stability to artists and promoting flamenco. My husband was a visionary.
Q All the artists came through here too.
R. Here Paco de Lucía presented his first single at the age of 16, also choosing the tablao to present Entre dos Aguas. Camarón came to see the great singers. Nowadays people don't like this art so much.
They offered us to open in Argentina, Mexico, London and Paris. Can do a lot of things, but can't do anything well. And it is also complex for others to reproduce it. Can you paint another Guernica? You can paint a different piece of art, but not the same one.
BLANCA DEL REY
Q What did it mean for Tablao to be the first in its category to receive a Michelin star?
R. Break down all the walls. It was something that hadn't happened. It was a good thing for everyone. The gastronomic experience combined with the artistic, as another path. Chefs come from all over the world and tell us that what we do can be replicated.
Q Could there be another Corral de la Morería?
R. They offered us to open in Argentina, Mexico, London and Paris. However, if you cover a lot, you do little. And it is also complex for others to reproduce it. Can you paint another Guernica? You can paint a different piece of art but not the same because it is not at the same time or under the same circumstances and Picasso is not there either. But there is still a long way to go. Gastronomy combined with art.
Blanca del Rey, in the catering area of the Corral de la Morería, in front of a photo of her from her time as a dancer. JUAN BARBOSA
Q The path you took to get here was long. Is success now being sought in the short term?
R. Everest is climbed step by step. And nothing is achieved quickly. Art and gastronomy have been part of our DNA for 70 years. It's not an artificial experience, it's something natural and it's perceived. We have opened a path that can be explored in different ways. We have created an avant-garde laboratory in the art world. Our artists receive the support they need to develop their shows freely. We give them the tools to create and open up new creative avenues.
Q They have also given the chef his place, the kitchen is as big as the living room.
R. There are two kitchens, one of 150 square meters and the other for production of 40 square meters. The hall is about 200 meters long, the stage is 16 meters. We haven't skimped on anything that people need. There are 27 people in the kitchen, 70 of us in total.
Q They also have a significant winery with a sherry wine list that is among the most significant in the world.
R. In total we have more than 2,000 references, 1,200 of which are sherry wines. We are ambassadors of Spanish wine. Even winemakers from Jerez come to drink bottles from their houses that they don't keep themselves. Beltrán Domecq, the president of the Board of Regulators, came recently and threw up his hands when I gave him a 1730 vintage Decano Napoleón by Pedro Domecq. Customers trust us, they put themselves in our hands to live an experience and we always put ourselves in their shoes. We work hard not to disappoint you.
Q And they understand it.
R. We are left with what the director of an art school in London told his students here, with whom he was traveling on a journey of discovery of European art: “If we had to teach beings from another planet the nature of man, we would have to take them to the corral”. We are special.
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