Spanish gastronomy mourns the loss of Javier Oyarbide, renowned chef and National Gastronomy Award winner in 1999, who died in Madrid at the age of 57. His premature death follows in the wake of that of his brother Iñaki, also a cook, who died in 2015 at the age of 56. Both, along with their parents, were a fundamental part of the history of the Zalacaín restaurant, the first Spanish establishment to obtain three Michelin stars.
In the golden age of Zalacaín, Javier Oyarbide and his brother shared the success of the restaurant with their parents and the influential Benjamín Urdiain. Zalacaín became a gastronomic reference in Madrid and a meeting place for high society. The head waiter, José Jiménez Blas, and the sommelier Custodio López Zamarra, have witnessed that golden era that left an indelible mark on Madrid gastronomy.
Although Zalacaín celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, it is currently in the hands of the Urrechu group, after going through a bankruptcy court process in November 2020. After their time in Zalacaín, the Oyarbide brothers founded the IO Restaurant nearby. of the Bernabéu stadium, conceived as an informal version of the extinct Príncipe de Viana.
The president of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, Luis Suárez de Lezo, remembered Javier Oyarbide as “a great cook and a very relevant professional in the recent history of Spanish gastronomy” and highlighted his generosity and warmth as a person. Suárez de Lezo expressed: “It was wonderful to hear him tell the countless anecdotes of his life in restaurants. With that memory and that way of telling them.”
Prominent chefs, such as Marian Reguera, Francis Paniego, Josean Alija and Alberto Chicote, have expressed messages of sadness, recognizing Oyarbide as a reference and lamenting his loss in the Spanish culinary field.
