Bygone Restaurants / Sagardi, traditional Basque cuisine on Masaryk
This authentically Basque restaurant existed for only a few years before becoming yet another victim of COVID-19.
By Alejandro Pohlenz
I’m very enthusiastic about languages, and my dear readers have probably noticed my obsession with words and their meanings. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I visited the Basque Country a month ago (there are coastal towns along the Bay of Biscay with names like Gaztelugatxe or Hondarribia). These are stunning, unforgettable places where a very peculiar language is spoken. It’s called Euskera, and it’s unlike anything else: it’s not related to our Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian), nor to English, nor to Nordic or Slavic languages. The theory is that Basque is a “remnant of the languages spoken before the arrival of Indo-European peoples,” such as the Celts, Romans, and Germans. The language survived—experts claim—thanks to the mountainous geography and population isolation.
Basque cuisine is equally exceptional. Highlights include pintxos (similar to tapas: small bread with ham or chorizo), bacalao a la vizcaína (very famous), merluza a la koskera (with asparagus and hard-boiled egg), and the Txuleta. The latter is also very renowned (we’ll come back to the “old cows”). It’s grilled meat over a wood fire (see the photo, please). Other notable dishes include callos a la vizcaína and “spoon” dishes such as porrusalda (leek and potato soup) and zurrucatuna (garlic soup with cod and egg—what a name!).
The Old Cows
In Mexico, cows over six years old that no longer produce milk are considered useless. But not for the Basques. From cows aged six to twelve years, they obtain the famous Txuletones, which are “meat with clean flavors evoking the scent of earth, milk, and grass.”
The Beginning (and End) of Sagardi
In 1994, Basque brothers Iñaki and Mikel López Viñaspre opened their first restaurant. In 2017, a very pleasant Sagardi opened on the Champs Élysées of CDMX: Masaryk. The charcoal grill was the heart of chef Joan Bagur’s cuisine.
Perhaps closing establishments during the pandemic was a mistake. The consequences on businesses, the economy, social life, and people’s mental health were probably more severe than the disease itself. Who knows. Sagardi could not survive the crisis and closed just three years after opening—almost a “death at birth.”
Address: Avenida Presidente Masaryk 183, Polanco, CDMX
Status: Permanently closed
