La Maruca

A Cantabrian restaurant on Calle de Velázquez, in Madrid's busy Salamanca quarter: La Maruca.

The story starts not in Madrid but in Santander. In 1981, at twenty-five, Paco Quirós opened his own place on Plaza de Cañadío and became one of the cooks who rewrote Cantabrian food in the language of the new Basque cuisine. They came to Madrid, to Salamanca, in 2011; the group itself was formed in 2013 with Carlos Crespo. La Maruca is the same kitchen in a more everyday, more affordable register, and there is more than one of them in Madrid.

The menu is the Cantabrian coast from end to end: Santoña anchovies, bonito, Burela hake, a Liébana stew, monkfish Orio style. We began with the tomato salad with bonito — thick slices of tomato under bonito and sharp red onion. Then the house signature: squid "as in Santander," which is to say rabas. After that, cod empanadas and La Maruca's patatas bravas.

Pudding was never in doubt: tarta de queso. The group's cheesecake, made fresh every day for forty years, burnt on top, with cream and caramel alongside.

The place is crowded and loud, a see-and-be-seen room — bluntly put, a scene. Salamanca is that sort of quarter anyway, Madrid's Nişantaşı: smart people and smart shops. La Maruca's cooking is good as well; one small warning, the portions are generous, so order accordingly.