When the building on Congress Street that once housed Fired Pie became vacant, Freddy ElMesselmani and Jeff Baker knew what they had to do: travel to Spain.
The couple who own Urban Pita across the street had been toying with the idea of turning the shop into a tapas restaurant, serving pintxos like in the Basque Country.
But before they could make their dream a reality, they had to make sure they did it justice.
Baker, ElMesselmani and their chef Joel Suire traveled to Spain for research purposes and tasted as many tapas, pintxos and sangrías as they could find.
“Every single one of us fell in love with this country immediately,” Baker said. “We signed up for more tours because we wanted to learn more about the history, food, wine and regions of the Basque Country.”
That’s when they knew they were ready to bring a touch of Spain to downtown Tucson.
Basqueria, 350 E. Congress St., is downtown’s newest eatery, bringing all the fun and deliciousness you find on the streets of Spain to Tucson.
“It’s a new adventure for Tucson,” Baker said.
The couple has worked hard to transform the former pizzeria into an inviting, open space similar to establishments in Spain. The space even has garage doors at the front of the building to give the restaurant an outdoor feel. Soon they plan to extend the patio to the neighboring Obon restaurant, so the entire front of the restaurant will be open.
They also made sure to pay tribute to the Basque Country by incorporating the flag and colors throughout the restaurant.
“All of Spain has incredibly rich traditions, art, culture and music,” Baker said. “The Basque Country also has such an ancient culture, so we wanted to create a place that felt like that.”
The real fun came when it was time to create the menu. While in Spain, they tried everything: breakfast, pintxos, pizza, and even ventured to a steakhouse. They wanted to include everything they tried in Basqueria’s menu.
Since they just opened, they have a smaller menu at the moment as they want to focus on perfecting their offering before adding more dishes. But since they have so many recipes to try, they plan to add more specialties to the menu in the future.
On the menu you will find a selection of pintxos (pronounced pin-chos). For those who don’t know, pintxos are small communal snacks made of various ingredients placed on bread and held together with a toothpick.
At Basqueria you can choose from several different pintxos. One of Baker’s favorite dishes is the smoked salmon pintxo, which consists of goat cheese on bread and topped with smoked salmon, whipped hot honey and pickled onions. You can also order pintxos with vegetables, prawns and lamb.
So far, their lamb pintxos have been very popular with customers, with people commenting on how tender the meat is. No gamey taste in sight!
Basqueria also offers several boards and main courses to choose from. Another of Baker’s favorite dishes is the Ropa Vieja, a spicy braised beef dish served with rice.
“I think it’s absolutely fantastic,” said Baker. “The paella is good too, of course.”
At Basqueria, it’s all about the details. All three men want to make sure that everyone who comes in gets the full Spanish experience, right down to the flavors.
“He (Suire) has exactly the same belief as we do that the details matter,” Baker said. “We all want to be able to repeat the menu no matter who is in the kitchen. No matter who is back there, your plate will look the same on a Tuesday afternoon as it does on a Saturday night.”
Baker said he was excited to share the restaurant’s vision with guests and transport them to Spain without having to take a 14-hour flight.
“I think about food and I kind of romanticize it,” Baker said. “You need food to survive and when you share it with someone, it’s like sharing your life with them. If you can make that into something enjoyable, it’s even more special.”
