One of the nicest things you can find in a place is if someone chooses it as their trusted bar. This place is always about filling coffee and pincho, impromptu vermouth, hanging out with friends at the last hour of the day. Be the bar that listens to the most intimate confessions, those conversations that change the world. And even though we only think about bars throughout our lives, in part because it’s through time that these close bar-customer-dueño-friend relationships are built, it’s a role that a site opened some time ago can fulfill perfectly.
To generate this link, certain basic characteristics must be met. Be a quiet place, but where you are comfortable. With dueños and equipment that make you feel at home, who know your name and how you like coffee. Some affordable prices. A rich and friendly cuisine, but at this home level that is always more special than the one you would have at home. And to complete the circle, you have in mind some basic elements for those who always come back, but every day it offers you something different, so you don’t get bored. All this is Fantastic Week and it is in fact the trusted bar on many occasions in Zaragoza.
Pablo Alcolea (36 years old, Zaragoza), Javier Allueba (36 years old, Zaragoza) and Ander Herrera (Bilbao, 36 years old) are these university friends who have always loved to eat and dreamed of sharing something together. The fantasy became reality in November 2024. “Pablo was always restless in the kitchen, his vision for the business… We were still meeting at home, trying things, I loved it, for me… and it was: ‘come on, we entered this space,’” says Allueba, who, from the world of management companies, began providing all the room services for his restaurant.
Alcolea spent many years dedicated to football. “After a long season at Real Zaragoza, he spent time in Toledo and Salamanca. Then I spent a lot of time eating Lera and in the meantime I ended up having something to do with Luis,” he says. After breaking his meniscus and gradually becoming disenchanted with the profession of footballer, Alcolea ends his career as a nurse and spends his summers in Lera’s kitchen. “I asked Luis if I could spend a few months learning at the restaurant and it was a wonderful step.”
By now cooking during Fantastic Week, the heritage of the Zamoran restaurant can be felt and savored. On Minica potatoes, with its classic chilled garlic, vinegar and pepper, cut and fried at the minute. It’s slow, artisanal cooking, slow cooker stews, and care from start to finish. “We serve the Russian fillets that Minica (Felicísima Collantes) gave us as personal food,” says Alcolea, “and I am very present with this enormous hospitality that was received by everyone who entered through the door.” Homemade stews, leftovers prepared from scratch, salsas prepared by them… In the kitchen of the Fantastic Week, there chup chup It’s constant.
Open every morning and serve us like in the bars before. Nothing avocado toast nor huevos benedictinos. Want a mini roasted plantain? Walk. Tostadas with cheese? Here they are, with a pan of sour dough, cooked and baked right here. A French tortilla? We will prepare it for you right now.
El vermut is one of those highlights. With a menu designed for sharing, the tables are filled with classic aperitifs. Ensaladilla in two versions: one with hake, black seaweed, langostinos and puerros, and the other shortened and bonito belly; ham croquetas, broken eggs with longaniza or shrimp al jillo, bravas, torreznos with chimichurri or fried ear with piri piri salsa. All with a personal point and, above all, he chooses in the moment. I have a section of mouthpieces that I don’t miss. A perfect filet nugget, a chipirone brioche or a seared Iberian palette bikini and queso. In the middle of the day, slightly more incisive dishes arrive, their calloused or toro-tailed guisos, their noise requiring cries. Gratinated cannelloni, made according to availability and suggestions of the day. This week they are serving suquet de raya, a stew of widow pochas, cazón adobado or morro bravo. “Hey, these are the tonterías of the gyozas or baos that are of the fifth range, that go to a place that makes you spend “Aquí hacemos todos nosotros, that was something we were clear about from the start.”
They also sought to deselect the wine list. “Go online. We offer different cuisine and ultimately we look for the same thing in wine. We don’t have the wines that are everywhere. If you can find it in the supermarket, that doesn’t mean we serve it here. We combine big successes, but we also have a lot of small projects, wines with lighter, easy profiles…”, says Allueba. With nearly 20 references per cup, the menu has pleasant surprises in store for anyone who wants to drink something a little different. “Yet we still betray something we want to try from time to time.”
In nursing, we call it a fantastic week that brings together many free shifts, a little party in the middle of the work schedule. Javier and Pablo haven’t had a fantastic week since opening their restaurant. Or at least, in those terms. “It’s a fantastic feeling in many ways. We put in all the illusion and all the gains. It’s our project and we want to do it the best we know how”, they finish saying, “despite the stress, the uncertainty, every time someone walks through the door we feel grateful. People choose us and make an effort to come. We must never give up on that to just sit back.”
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