If the fickle Michelin stars worked with a player selection procedure similar to that of the NBA and I were the chief scout of one of those admirable basketball teams, I have no doubt who my pick would be in the draft next 28- N: Carlos Casillas Hernández, from the Barro de Ávila restaurant.

At 23 years old, Casillas is the undisputed rookie of the year, the Carlos Alcaraz of the national kitchen and one of the most promising young chefs in Europe. With its radical naturalistic cuisine, inspired by the seasons, the environment and memory, the restaurant that he has run for a few months in the city of Santa Teresa de Jesús has become an unquestionable destination for the most traveling Madrid gourmets and is joining to that new generation JASP – acronym for Young Although Amply Prepared, slogan from a 1995 Renault Clio advertisement – ??that is revitalizing the plateau culinary scene, from Ribera del Duero to La Manchuela.

Think of names of already recognized twenty-somethings such as Javier Sanz and Juan Sahuquillo from Cañitas Maite (Casas-Ibáñez, Albacete) or Alejandro Serrano (Miranda de Ebro, Burgos), people deserving of participating in the 30 Under 30 summit organized annually by Forbes magazine. . An opportunity that will undoubtedly come to Carlos, born in 1999: the same year that El País Semanal dedicated its cover to Ferrán Adrià, proclaiming him “the best chef in the world” and the same year, also, that it opened its doors. in Madrid the most spectacular wine store at that time in Europe: Lavinia.

I mention both news because Carlos Casillas is not only a chef with a dazzling present and immense future, but he could equally make a living as head sommelier at any three star restaurant on the planet, such is his passion for oenology, signature wines and old fashioned wines. vintages from legendary wineries. The kid, who was going to be an aeronautical engineer – that’s nothing – let himself be encouraged by his sister to enroll in the Basque Culinary Center. “He stood out with the best record of his promotion, then he collaborated in Bullipedia, researching wines with Ferrán Centelles, and his time in the kitchens of La Tasquita de Enfrente, Miramar and Ambivium, have served to deepen his knowledge of the product and move everything to their land,” Alicia Hernández tells us in Con Mucha Gula.

Barro is located in a tiny place in front of the wall of Ávila, which was occupied by Casillas’ previous project, Mûd Wine Bar, until April 1. With the change of name and interior design, also came a new concept of gastronomic restaurant with just three tables, an open kitchen, a moss-covered bar where desserts are served and a prodigious wine cellar, which helps pay the bills for an establishment with such limited capacity. Nor is it necessary for the diner to have to stretch his wallet to face some of the wine treasures that the patron treasures, since the menu of more than 1,000 references also abounds in affordable bottles of Garnachas and Albillos from the nearby Cebreros and Denomination of Origin. the entire Sierra de Gredos, where Carlos himself is already underway to recover an old family vineyard in Navalacruz.

Precisely from that plot come many of the flowers, leaves, stems and bark that will illustrate our tasting menu; from fig leaves to rosehips to the vegetable ingredients needed to make your own green curry. This attraction to the rural world and wild flavors could associate our character with the new Nordic cuisine or even with the Bras-Aduriz connection. But the explanation is much simpler and lies in his fixation with nature and the environment since childhood.

To eat at Barro you have to go through a gate and settle into a minimalist and rustic decor, full of artisan gadgets that include clay tableware, wooden cutlery or pieces of basketry made by the owner’s grandfather. I could tell you every bite in detail, but get used to the idea that the dishes are constantly changing depending on what the season, the harvest or the market brings. In six months, since the opening, Carlos, Jaime Mondéjar, Diego Sanz and this entire team of restless young people with their brains constantly boiling have created more than 90 dishes! And those who will come…

So we let ourselves be carried away by the Alberche menu – in honor of a tributary of the Tagus that irrigates the lands of Avila – in which up to 60 local producers take part. Locavorous cuisine? Not strictly speaking, although the concept of kilometer zero and the desire to reduce their carbon footprint are present, more because of the values ??of their generation (recycling, use, fair trade) and because of a consciousness of belonging than because of a pose. media. Casillas prefers to defend the term sustainable, which includes, in addition to good local suppliers, an entire philosophy of recovering ancestral crops and regenerating organic waste.

A clay bowl interrupts all these reflections with a warm broth that simulates the act of drinking rain. Next to it, unleavened bread with mushroom miso and an emulsion of mushrooms, oaks and lichens like butter that is spread with a knife that resembles a Neolithic weapon. The thin slice of matured beef that arrives later is a tribute to the popular Ávila steak, the pride of public dining rooms around here. Next is an Iberian pig’s ear socarrat nigiri, with sour cream and nasturtium. And, at each pass, the customer hears a story about courageous producers who fight against the uniformity of the market by helping to protect techniques or foods in danger of extinction, such as vetch stew – a legume similar to lentil – that is accompanied by some burning twigs to provoke reflection on one of the provinces of Spain with the most burned area in recent years.

The trout that appears below is not, alas, the native one of the Alberche River, today almost annihilated and very protected, but a northern specimen, from a trout recovery project in the Pyrenees. As for the Tierra de Campos pigeon, it honors the Roman origin of the Zamorano pigeon houses with the thigh of the bird glazed in garum sauce. Autumn mushrooms and vegetables, with treatments ranging from hay smoke to fermented, washed down with kombuchas and homemade infusions, as well as great wines from small producers, complete a menu that jumps momentarily from the table to the bar to taste some homemade sausages from grass-fed chicken on pickled corn and an exquisite cut of chicken skin and ice cream. The agape culminates with a series of slightly sweet sweets, highlighting a carob fritter.

Nominated for Best New Chef at Madrid Fusión, while the more than justified top prize from the red guide arrives (will it be this year?), Carlos is already reaping various awards such as the Golden T from Tapas magazine or the Eroski-Basque Culinary Center award (BCC) Onenak 2023, which distinguishes projects from BCC alumni who are committed to local products, innovation, sustainability and health. This emotional and brave cuisine deserves no less. Go see him without hesitation before it becomes impossible to reserve a table!