Over 100 years, the time we have been serving our customers at La Casa del Abuelo, we have had hundreds or maybe thousands of big and small stories. Our customers have starred in unforgettable moments but we chose the following ones to resume them, as they highlight special characters or circumstances.
El nombre de La Casa del Abuelo no deja de ser una anécdota más, puesto que en sus comienzos, y desde 1906 hasta 1909, su nombre era “La Alicantina”. Se llamó así por el origen del primer encargado del establecimiento. También, el vino que se vendía procedía de Alicante, al cual los clientes de la taberna apodaron “el abuelo”. Con este apodo y el éxito del vino, el establecimiento pasó a llamarse “La Casa del Abuelo”.
“A falta de pan, buenas son gambas.” Con esta frase, Patricio, quien era propietario en aquellos tiempos, después de la Guerra Civil y sin saberlo, selló el futuro de la fama de La Casa del Abuelo. En los años de la posguerra civil española, los alimentos escaseaban, en concreto el pan para poner los aperitivos. No deja de ser anecdótico que el precio de las gambas fuera inferior al del pan. Pero gracias a esta decisión, para mantener La Casa del Abuelo en funcionamiento, desde entonces las gambas se convirtieron en el buque insignia de la casa.
Over the 100 years we have been open, without missing a day, many customers have passed by our tavern; all of them were important but some of them were also famous as in the case of Ramón del Valle Inclán. Around 1906 a tall and slim man appeared, with a long white beard and a missing arm. Everyone kept an eye on that shape, that had at least a curious presence. He greeted and took a seat at a round table, Luis, one of the youngest waiters at only 17 years old, approached the bearded man wearing round glasses who promptly said: “Let’s see how this house wine is”. To answer Luis’ questions about who he was, Baldomero, the owner at that time, took his doubts away by saying: “Yes, that man is Valle Inclán”.
After some years and in the middle of the Civil War, passed by the tavern the writer, journalist and politician, Ernest Hemingway. This corpulent man, as he was over 1,90m and the author of “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, was passionate about spanish traditions, bulls and good wine. He liked La Casa del Abuelo wine so much that they had to go to the warehouse to get more because the bottles were “vanishing”. He arrived accompanied by a very beautiful woman, Martha Gellhorn, and another friend, much shorter and slim, who introduced himself as Robert Capa, the photographer of the famous picture on “Life” journal from 1937, known as “The falling soldier”.
There is something that might not be anecdotal but it really is. Everyone knows that in pubs and taverns the main subject is football. Then, it was bulls and politics. At La Casa del Abuelo, talking about politics was never allowed. With some wine, those discussions would become arguments and to avoid so, that subject was banned. This decision brought peace and avoided problems at the tavern.
We can also consider anecdotal that La Casa del Abuelo never closed due to pressure from what was happening on the streets. Not even after the Barcelona Tragic Week that also affected Madrid, or during war, only when bombings were too close to customer’s safety. But it would open again and let our wine calm those throats.
Which tavern from Madrid wouldn’t have liked to have between their customers bullfighter Miguel Dominguin and Ava Gardner? We had that privilege. In May 1961 came through our door, Luis Miguel Dominguin, accompanied by Antonio Bienvenida and an older man who nobody knew at all maybe because their attention was focused on the two bullfighters. Said person was Jean Cocteau. Bienvenida praised the quality of the wine and sides while Dominguin answered: “Ava Gardner also loved them”. Which is true because she, who was known as “the prettiest animal on Earth”, also drank our Abuelo wine on her visit, a few weeks earlier.
In the beginnings of what was called “The Madrid Movement” , La Casa del Abuelo, its wine and its prawns didn’t stop increasing in prestige and the number of customers for the tavern. It was around this era that Andy Warhol appeared to taste our wine. A man very dedicated to his public image, he didn’t say a word… but he asked for a top up. Actually, he arrived in Bilbao to inaugurate his exhibition “Shadows” at the Guggenheim Museum. At La Casa del Abuelo we never knew what brought him to our tavern from Bilbao.
Without a doubt, the guided visit by the Tourism Director of the great chef Paul Bocuse was a trial by fire for our tavern. He was considered the best chef from the 20th century. Everyone was nervous, but the calmness of our managers was imposed, they only said “give the best of your best”. And it must have been so, because after 3 glasses of wine and a few prawns, he left promising to come back and praising the mix between the sweet palate left by the wine and the garlic taste of the prawns.
And we also want to take the chance in this short summary of tales to encourage everyone to visit us and taste our wine and our cooking. However, we recommend you to read our book, “La Casa del Abuelo”, that is in fact, a walk through our history.
Thank you for your time.
