Chef Dani García (Marbella, 1975) is free, seems happy and, curiously, cooks little. Or he doesn’t cook for the public. Having become a successful businessman, the reality is that he is behind the Marbella chef, one of the few who gave up three Michelin stars, He grants us several minutes of his time where, as will be verified, freedom is appreciated in everything he says.
He does not bite his tongue and speaks without acrimony, but he is sincere and that honors everyone who wants to be heard. He does it while we celebrate the first meeting of Dani Garcia and Fratellia series of four-handed menus in Alelí, your Italian restaurant. As a star guest, the Uruguayan Michelin star Matias Perdomofrom the Milanese restaurant Contraste.
Against the backdrop we have the Puente Romano hotel and resort, almost the bastion of Dani García, because in this Costa del Sol complex are located four of his proposals such as Leña, Kemuri, an imminent and new Bibo or the aforementioned Alelí. This is where he got the three stars and this is where in this comeback, he caters to us.
He talks about Michelin, he talks about payroll, he talks about making money. It also talks about being happy or trying to be.. To be proud of what you do and even talk about luck. What is certain is that luck, without talent or effort, usually stays in no man’s land.
Do you believe in luck?
A lot. I believe in luck. Above all, I believe because I was born in the kitchen where an amazing generation appeared giving lectures and cooking like Ferrán Adrià, Joan Roca or Arzak. I seem to have been a lucky guy.
Dani Garcia is a celebrities, with what that implies. If you made a wish, what would you ask for?
If I made a wish, I would want to be invisible. I would love to go to work as normal. Being able to go down the street without being stopped or going to a restaurant and not being served 20 dishes. It is complex to live in a situation like this because I consider myself the most normal guy in the world eating. I like normal things and sometimes I find myself in situations that are uncomfortable because I am a shy guy and I go with my wife or my daughter, although they are more used to it.
“I will return, but in a scenario where the restaurant does not bear my name”
But people stop you on the street, greet you, want to take pictures with you…
I am unable to say no. I try to be the nicest and nicest person in the world but I’m full of nerves and suddenly I notice that the other person is nervous. I try to adapt, but I know it’s not my natural habitat and I wasn’t born for it.
Have you officially left the kitchen so as not to have so much visibility?
It is a scenario that for us, both as a company and as a family, was vital. Especially in the Smoked Room [con dos estrellas Michelin conseguidas en 2022] because one of the reasons why I left and closed Dani García Restaurante was to do a project where I didn’t always have to be.
Would you cook directly again?
I will return, but in a scenario where the restaurant does not bear my name.
“How long did it take to feed 2,000 people at Dani García Restaurante?”
Today, however, it’s your turn to cook.
Well, I come to have dinner and cook with a friend, but it’s true that today I look like this with an apron even though it’s a Rare avis. It is true that people are shocked if they see me eating in the restaurant. However, it is not the image we want to give. We don’t want to play on people’s frustration and make them think that Dani García is there. I don’t want to sell something that isn’t real.
If you had to cook, which of your restaurants would you want to be in?
I go to everyone to eat, but I just go, eat and leave. Although if I said a restaurant I would say that I would like to be in Kemuri because I am crazy about Japanese cuisine and now we are going to start a omakaselike in Smoked Room, but Japanese.
Although that is not the objective of all your restaurants or not the objectives that were had with stars.
Our goal is that everything is in the quality and the value for money. You are going to pay and receive a little more than what you pay for. That someone tells you that the price is right or that it seems cheap and that they have eaten like hell seems to me the best compliment they can say to you.
Especially when the way people eat changes.
One good day among all the Dani García Group restaurants we feed 2,000 people. How long did it take to feed 2,000 people at Dani García Restaurant? Two and a half months?
“I am amused by the chef who says that he works for the love of art”
Including the controversy that involved starting to work with McDonald’s. Did that also scare you or, above all, did it expose you too much?
Of the first hamburger with McDonald’s, 50,000 were sold on the first day. If I think about fear or exposing myself, I wouldn’t do it; that thought blocks you. I believe that in life everything comes and, obviously, every time you are in more places, you are more exposed.
Why are chefs penalized for wanting to be profitable?
Good things are not valued in this country. I think that with Leña, Bibo and Lobito de Mar, what we do would be wonderful. But it is true that I do not do this growth for money. It’s something that goes hand in hand and I don’t mind talking about it. I am amused by the chef who says “I work for the love of art”. A dick like a pot! You work for money, like everyone else.
Has it sometimes been claimed that the cook is an altruistic profession or not having to charge?
I don’t believe in going to free sites. Neither to work nor to appear. People send you to a congress where you don’t get paid, but where someone is getting paid because you see a lot of brands. I have not found an NGO congress in my life.
Is Michelin an NGO?
No, it is not an NGO, but it is the closest thing to being one. Michelin does not subject you to anything. It’s the cook, who is very free to do and undo, and they give you or they don’t give you. They put you or take you away, but there is nothing you have to pay or do for them to appear.
Is it essential to believe in what you do? What would you do again?
If you don’t believe in what you do, you’re screwed. Getting started with McDonald’s was a shockbut I would do it again. Imagine if I believe in things. Feeding half a million people a day, doing what they do and how they do it, controlling traceability, health, knowing where things come from… Any restaurant in Spain would like to have McDonald’s traceability. you take any burger gourmet from a workshop or wherever and it has colorings, preservatives, additives… Ours from McDonald’s has nothing, zero.
Is everything a strategy to continue growing?
I think that deep down there is no more strategy than saying “no” to the dream of your life to dedicate yourself to setting up restaurants for 50 euros. To reach more people, to feed more people. That was what made me happy and everyone has to look for happiness.
“Michelin is not an NGO, but it is the closest thing to being one”
Haute cuisine didn’t make you happy?
In haute cuisine happiness never depends on you, it depends on others. You can be very happy with that menu and if the prizes or the guide do not arrive, you are unhappy. Yes, I was very unhappy there.
Would you go through that hoop again? Would you walk the same path?
I think I would have done the same. I suffered a lot, especially financially ten years ago, but all that had to happen to be what I am today. Now I also see life differently because of what happened to me and the reality is that life is not always happy flower every day because he spends a lot of time screwed up.
And more when one now employs more than 1,000 people.
When you have a company with more than a thousand employees, you live in tension. In fact, the day the salmonellosis alert went off at Casa Dani I put the entire team on alert because the cook is called Daniel García.
What do you respond to those who would also say that you left haute cuisine out of fear or pressure?
The pressure is to pay a thousand payrolls each month and for everyone to receive their salary. Blessed pressure is to have three Michelin stars! That was a fucking joy. She has nothing to do with it.
Finally, what do you ask of 2023?
It is an important year for us. I’m really looking forward to it because I want to see what our presence is and start off with a good footing. We opened in Paris with La Chambre Bleue, which is a luxury Parisian-style Sea Lion. We also arrived in Dubai and opened a Firewood and Smoked Room at the same time.
Making food: The best recipes (F. COLLECTION)
Will there be some funk?
Dubai is our own investment, it carries other risks and everything was in Spain. Here the public returns it to us in spades and I feel loved and happy. Yes, it’s true, damn it, we need to stick out our chests outside and say that we are a Spanish company that is creating jobs and putting us on the map, and also to see how the world reacts to the brand.
Images | Dani Garcia Group
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