So will be DSTAgE, Diego Guerrero’s new restaurant in Madrid

“Haute cuisine told in a new format for the benefit of the client, which involves breaking away from everything to start from scratch” is the definition that this cook, who earned 2 Michelin Stars at El Club Allard, applies to DSTAgE Concept. The chef gives the key essentials on the new restaurant: it will open on the 1st of July on Regueros Street, in the Madrid neighborhood of Salesas, and it will function without à la carte instead featuring two tasting menus for 88 and 118 euros. “It is not only about cooking, but about changing it all”, reinforces Guerrero in an interview with Gastroeconomy. Spanish version of this article to read here / Versión en español de este artículo aquí.

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2 October 2013: Diego Guerrero (Vitoria, 1975) announces his departure from El Club Allard. A surprise in the Spanish gastronomic sector. The architect of the two Michelin stars of the Madrid restaurant in which he was the gastronomic director does not give explanations; he speaks of starting a new phase. At first, he doesn’t have concrete plans, but he revisits the dream of opening his own place. In the following weeks, the offers arrive. And in between, ideas emerge.

Shortly after, he meets some friends at a place in the Triball zone: “How does the Salesas zone “sound” to you?”, he asks. During those days, he draws on a paper napkin, the ingredients of his future restaurant: Haute cuisine devoid of corsets, a kitchen within view of the client, cooks in the dining room, a succession of gastronomic experiences, a venue with a groundbreaking concept. On that same napkin, he writes DSTAgE. There emerges the game of letters and sounds (‘The Stage’, a scaffold), that since then gives name to his Project, and, in fact, is an acronym: “Days to Smell Taste Amaze Grow & Enjoy”. Here you can read an interview with Diego Guerrero published by Gastroeconomy in November 2013.

Gastroeconomy-dstage-Diego-Guerro-10June 2014. Guerrero is about to open DSTAgE. Date? The 1st of July. Place? The neighborhood of Salesas and, to be exact, this is the address: 8 Regueros Street. “These weeks, as we approach our debut, are like a rollercoaster”, admits Guerrero, speaking with Gastroeconomy, while the construction works are finalized and performs menu testing with his team. “It still seems incredible that we have mounted all of this in the six months since I drew it on a napkin,” he says. “We have plotted a difficult path and, also, on this path, we haven’t stopped working. DSTAgE is who we, the ones who have worked on this project, are.

A production in three months without the help of an interior design company, with a project based on what Guerrero and his team have conceived as the ideal ‘box’ to give life to DSTAgE and from the design of the venue to the selection of the furniture or the lighting, everything inside this restaurant is ‘100% Diego Guerrero’, as the cook himself explains. Furniture made by a carpenter, lamps with an industrial look, exposed brick and a picture with the ‘DSTAgE’ speech’ painted by Guerrero’s mother assembles the language that the chef accomplishes in this restaurant, under the generic concept DSTAgE Concept, with the most probable idea that this brand will include other businesses in the future. “We have managed and organized everything ourselves; my team and I”, he asserts.

Gastroeconomy-dstage-Diego-Guerro-8Two menus and two floors

Gastronomic offerings? There will not be à la carte, instead two tasting menus: DTASTE, with 10 creations, for the price of 88 euros, and DSTAgE, with 13 creations, for 118 euros (both include VAT).

The space, about 300 square meters, is comprised of two floors. On the street level is the dining room, with a capacity for about 40 diners. Preceding this is the bar area consisting of the bar and low tables, designed for the starter menu. That is, the client finds this area immediately upon entering the restaurant and there begins his/her dining experience with some snacks. The next stop is the dining room, arranged around a patio. In the back is the kitchen within view, open to the dining room and the kitchen line within the client’s view. Guerrero’s idea is that the cooks step away from the stoves to approach the diners.

The bar at the entrance is now posed “to be part of the experience, but who knows if in the future it can be a snackería in itself, just as the kitchen line can eventually become a bar to eat at in due time”, considers the chef.

Gastroeconomy-dstage-Diego-Guerro-4The lower floor, baptized as BACKDSTAgE, materializes another offshoot of DSTAgE Concept: a space with a kitchen dedicated to the study of the chef’s work and creativity, and at the same time, serves as a zone for events, private dining and a culinary classroom. In fact, Guerrero’s team has already planned a program of courses, which will be launched in the following weeks. They can consider anything from his ‘classic’ dishes, to classes for children, or tastings. In any case, not only this floor, but also the entire restaurant space is available for reservation of custom events. “We have already been booked by some companies and brands that want to try DSTAge”, explains the cook.

Additionally located on this ground floor, are the wine cellar (some 200 national and international bottles), the bathrooms and a garden-patio with plants and aromatic herbs (outfitted with a pulley system). The patio is connected to the top floor so that the cooks can go down for ingredients for their dishes.

Gastroeconomy-dstage-Diego-Guerro-11Conceptual change

The DSTAgE approach is aligned with a place that has a cosmopolitan look, contemporary and industrial with a ‘casual’ point in its interior design; something that the chef wants to reconcile with a stake on high cuisine. «Spaces and the territory define your kitchen, beyond taste. That’s why I understand that it is a 360 degree change from my previous stage”, he points out. “We wanted to change our own rules and our own concepts. Our approach to the project, doing it all ourselves, it draws a line that means doing it all differently. We have created a new concept; something like haute cuisine told in a new format for the benefit of the client, I think, with the courage of throwing ourselves into the swimming pool”, he adds.

For Guerrero, there can be a form of creativity even more demanding than that of gastronomy. It is the creativity involved in designing a concept. “When a chef wants to be creative, he figures out how to continuously surprise the client with a dish, with which techniques, products or presentations. Now, it hasn’t been about creating dishes, instead, it’s been about being creative in the restaurant beyond the dishes.” According to the DSTAgE owner, “it is not only about cooking, but about changing it all so that the client sees it and feels it that way. We are talking about being more creative than ever, with protocols and new ways to make things.

Vertigo? “We’ve had some crazy months. Launching a project in such a short time is scary; surely it hasn’t allowed for assimilation of many things. But we’ve put all our passion and excitement into this with the sole idea that the diner will have fun when he comes to DSTAgE”.

Gastroeconomy-dstage-Diego-Guerro-3In his new project, in which he debuts as a businessman and entrepreneur, the chef does not have partners. “There aren’t partners. The project was and is, something totally personal”, he alleges. “It is part of the idea of starting from scratch. I have the vital necessity to feel free; the freedom to do what I want for good and bad. If I make a mistake, it’s my mistake. I’m aware of the risks I am taking. In times like these, it is difficult to want to leave your ‘comfort zone’, but it is what I needed”, he explains. Long-term vision? “We have built our house for 20 or 30 years. It is now our house”, he explains. You can see more on this philosophy in a video released by the chef and his team at the end of last April, on DSTAgE Concept’s web page.

If in the past his cooking style was named “The Silent Revolution”(via a magazine article’s headline), How does he define now his stake? Guerrero insists that DSTAgE is “a format of haute cuisine devoid of many corsets”. He adds: “I want it to be a space where things happen as soon as you walk through the door. It needs to be that way if I want the client to return. The diner needs to perceive that everything is planned to make him happy so that he will return and repeat. That is to say, everything is developed to achieve his happiness and ours. Along this line, DSTAgE’s environment defines everything.

For his new project, he relies on a team comprised of five people in the dining room and another five in the kitchen (including Guerrero). The team also includes a manager and various ‘stagiers’ who have been able to attain internships (of 3 or 4 months) through the ‘DSTAGERS’ section of the restaurant’s website. “The idea is that the ‘stagiers’ rotate monthly in each area”, he comments.

Gastroeconomy-dstage-Diego-Guerro-5A few days ago, DSTAgE launched an online reservation feature. “We are noticing a lot of interest from foreign clientele and from people that have followed me for years”, tells the cook, who is studying a cancellation policy (perhaps with a notice period from the booking time and a credit card request).

Since his departure from El Club Allard, Diego Guerrero has not stopped: travel, conventions or his role as international ambassador for olive oil (through the Interprofesional of this sector) have filled his agenda. Thus, since October 2013, he has accumulated 76.678 kilometers in national and international travel. Currently, he is ambassador of 6 products or projects and maintains another six collaborations with companies. “I have not had a day of vacation since I left my previous job”, says Guerrero who was trained in spaces like Martin Berasategui’s la casa madre in Lasarte (Guipúzcoa) or Goizeko Kabi (Bilbao and Madrid) before working for 13 years at El Club Allard.

Outcome

Months of madness, says the chef. “It has been non-stop from the venue negotiation and the search for financing for construction, decoration, brand collaboration, the design format, to working on the dishes and the protocol regarding work and dining room etiquette. It was like a master’s much more complex and much longer than the time you spend in the kitchen. People need to see you in a kitchen, but before that, there are many things to tackle”, explains the chef.

Gastroeconomy-dstage-Diego-Guerro-3“I have the feeling that everything I have done in the last six months is unique and unrepeatable. It has been incredible, but it has also led to much wear and tear. I have left my soul here. We’ve only been here a few months, but I have the feeling that I’ve been here my whole life. I don’t know if I’ll open another place, but if I do, apart from being another concept, I certainly won’t approach it in the same manner”, he adds. In spite of everything, the outcome from his point of view has been more than positive. “These are moments that you must value because they’ve involved breaking away from everything to start from scratch. I have approached it this way because I believe that it will be a thousand times better than what I have done before”.

And Guerrero concludes, “If, when you create a dish, you have that inkling that the client will love it when he tastes it; now, we have the inkling that the client will love the concept. We are going to be more creative than ever, break away with everything previous to be able to showcase the dish of my life. And for that, I need to be totally free”.

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DSTAgE. Regueros, 8. Madrid

Two tasting menus:

* DTASTE (10 elaboraciones): 88 euros (con IVA)

* DSTAgE (13 elaboraciones): 118 euros (con IVA)

More information

Spanish version of this article to read here

Versión en español de este artículo aquí

More articles in English here

Eating out in Madrid: 10 trends and 100 places to go

10 Trends in culinary management in 2014

Fuente de las fotos: Alvaro Fernández Prieto for DSTAgE.

Acerca del autor



“Economista de formación y periodista de profesión, me encanta escribir y, además, comer. GASTROECONOMY nació el 30 de julio de 2011 como un pequeño proyecto personal, a los 4 meses de decidir convertirme voluntariamente en periodista ‘freelance’. Aquí escribo de lo que ocurre en el sector: cambios, novedades, estrategias, tendencias… Se trata de observar para contarlo de la forma más amena y detallada posible. La hostelería, sea un sencillo bar, una casa de comidas o un espacio de alta cocina, equivale a un relevante sector económico que se puede analizar con el mismo rigor y seriedad que cualquier otra actividad, eliminando la frivolidad que, por desgracia, sobra en los últimos tiempos en la gastronomía. A escribir aprendí y aprendo con la práctica y porque me enseñaron a hacerlo en mi casa y en el diario económico Expansión (www.expansion.com)”.

1Comment
  • felix
    Publicado a las 18:08h, 26 marzo Responder

    Un lujo felicitaciones…

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