Carlos Zamora is heading to Spain. Well, a Spanish restaurant, that is. The lauded executive chef has traded the Mexican cuisine of his former post, El Catrin in the Distillery District, for a new appointment just down the road: the Michelin-recommended Madrina Bar y Tapas. Now he’s excited to explore the dialogue between his Mexican roots and the Spanish tapas he’ll be cooking every day. “There is a beautiful interchange between both cultures. Ingredients like olive oil, garlic and citrus came to Mexico from Spain, and ingredients like chocolate, tomatoes and chiles traveled from Mexico to Spain and changed their cuisine forever,” Zamora says. “Cooking with that shared history in mind feels alive and relevant — it’s like continuing a centuries-old conversation through food.”
He’s keen to chat about his beloved peppers and how they are a key part of his new menu, whether they’re starring in the green-apple gazpacho (“it’s bright, refreshing and layered with grapes, compressed apple and chile pearls, balancing sweetness and heat from the espelette pepper”) or the mejillones tigre, a classic stuffed-mussel tapa (“a hint of chile ancho adds a gentle warmth and smokiness that rounds out the dish”).
So where else in town gets Zamora all fired up? Here are the places that warm his heart most.
