Urdaneta: Making the Unfamiliar Familiar in Portland

A little while back, I received an email from the PR person who works with Urdaneta. In it, she mentioned there was a chance to speak with Chef Javier Canteras about his work, and this topic caught my eye: “How his team is reviving lesser-known tapas traditions for a new audience.” As someone who, as a musician, was passionate about a similar thing (bring to the public music from lesser-known composers from the late Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods), this resonated with me.

We arranged a time for me to stop by—my friend and colleague Kathleen Bauer from Good Stuff NW joined me—and try some things. I had been to Urdaneta before and was confident the food was going to be the high quality I was accustomed to there; it did not disappoint. However, in honor transparency, I must tell you that this meal was comped (however, it’s important to tip well, and we did) but my thoughts are my own.

At the Helm of Urdaneta: Chef Javier Canteras

Chef Javier stopped by our seats at the chef’s counter and we had an engaging 20-minute conversation together. He told us that he was born in Bilbao, and that he came to the U.S. with his parents when he was just five years old. His mother is from a little fishing town just 45 minutes west of Bilbao. His dad is from Madrid.

“My dad’s from Madrid, and he’s a bit more Spaniard—and my mom is more Basque. It’s a mixed marriage,” he quipped.

He spent a lot of his youth going back and forth between the U.S. and the Basque Country and Spain to visit his grandparents and access Basque (and Spanish) culture. “I grew up here and there for a long time,” he remarked. “I was kind of an interesting child at the time. But my family certainly mixed things up—mom would do her Basque things and my dad would do his more Castilian things. And I came out of it being influenced by all of that.”

He added, “Bilbao is still where a lot of the heart of things happen for me.”

As Javier got a little older, his parents slowed down their trips to the region, but as an adult he makes an effort to go back regularly. “Now I’m there two or three times a year,” he said. “We take some of our staff with us sometimes, to educate them. It’s really a nice and fortunate experience for them.”

Urdaneta Food Tours

“We do a couple Basque tours, like gastronomy tours in the Basque region with Chris from Portland Food Adventures,” Javier explained. “We partnered up with him and we’ve been doing that for five or six years now.” He added, “It’s an excuse to go over there and, you know, ‘work.'” he joked.

And in a more serious tone, “Also to get ideas, do research, and come back here with some inspiration and new things.”

Basque Cuisine: Education and Tradition at Urdaneta

I asked Javier about the impetus behind the importance of presenting lesser-known tapas to his Portland audience. He responded, “I think for me the fundamental of that always comes down to upholding the tradition and educating people on different levels of what Basque cuisine can be. You know, we’re a place that I’m not going to say is a 100% Basque, but we certainly focus on that region more than any other region in this restaurant.”

He continued, “And with that comes so many different levels of things. There are things that my grandmother cooked that nobody’s ever seen. And there are things that people in the town make for themselves at home that you don’t necessarily see at a pintxos bar in San Sebastian—or you simply don’t know about.”

So on the one hand he talked about dishes you’d find at a Basque home—dishes you won’t see on a restaurant menu. Or, to quote Coco Larkin, “dishes you’ll only find in someone’s house, not a restaurant.” And on the other hand, there’s the effort to present elevated Basque food. “I aim to bring here some of that unfamiliar stuff, but also with a lot more elevated Basque food,” explained Javier.

Michelin Stars in the Basque Region

This was news to me: the number of Michelin-starred restaurants in the Basque region is relatively high. “You know, it’s an interesting statistic—I think up until maybe two years ago, San Sebastian and the Basque region have the most Michelin stars per capita than any other city in the world!”

He continued, “Now, I think Japan beat us out just by a tiny bit, by like one star, you know? But you can successfully go to San Sebastian—and many places in the Basque region—and eat at a three-Michelin-star restaurant, with things that you don’t even know what’s in front of you. But then down the street, you can go down to the little pintxos bar and have the grandma cooking. And they can be within less than a mile radius. And that’s such a cool thing, and a really great opportunity to experience many different kinds and levels [of places].”

Javier’s Approach at Urdaneta: Make the Unfamiliar Familiar—in a Corn Dog

He admits that the Basque culture is still very much a kind of unknown culture here in the U.S. “So for me, what we aim to do is take very traditional things,” he explained. “Like, for example, a Basque chorizo wrapped in kind of a corn flatbread. People don’t associate corn with Spain or the Basque region, but it was actually used there when wheat was too expensive. And so now you only see this dish, maybe if you’re lucky, at a festival.”

He continued, “But you don’t really see it hardly anywhere—and you certainly don’t see it in The United States. So our answer to make it more fun and familiar, is we did this Basque chorizo corn dog. And it’s really a take on this old, old, old, peach of a dish.” It’s called Txistorra Corndog on the menu.

“So for us, it’s like, ‘Well, we’re in America!’ So how can we identify that with something that would be familiar here, but still really fun and holds some tradition to it. It’s a perfect summertime food. You feel like you’re at the fair, but it has very much the kind of Basque flavors. It’s been elevated with the truffle honey mustard and a kind of escabeche of a lot of seasonal vegetables underneath it, just to add some brightness to it.”

Morcilla

He highlighted another dish called, simply, Morcilla. “You know, classic morcilla is a blood sausage that we make here in-house. It’s a bit of a combination of two different towns that I really enjoy. One being one of my hometowns called Bermeo, where they make a blood sausage with leeks and pork fat. And then another place called Burgos, where they make a blood sausage with rice. And I put both of them together because I like them both. So that’s kind of our version of that.”

Bermeo is in the Basque Country and Burgos is in Spain’s autonomous community of Castile and León.

“It’s got some marinated peppers that comes from from my dad,” explained Javier. “I tried to make it as good as his, but probably didn’t. And quail egg is pretty traditional.”

Tartare de Atún

“And then we have some tuna tartare,” said Javier. “This is something you find a little bit more in the south of Spain, actually.”

“But, you know, it’s summertime, so why not do something like that?’ he remarked. “It’s got peaches in the dressing, capers, herbs, lemon olive oil, avocado puree, and then that’s a squid ink cone.”

A Group Effort

“The morcillo is really traditional, the cone more elevated,” explained Javier. “And the corn dog is kind of both—it’s elevated and traditional, yet playful.”

He continued, “And to really get it, you need to have all of it. You need to see the whole picture here because if you were to come in here and just have that corn dog, it doesn’t tell you a lot about us, really. But once you see it next to many other things, then you’re kind of like, ‘I see they did this corn dog as a way to have fun and maybe be a little tongue in cheek about it.’ When you have that next to something that’s super elevated, it makes sense.”

Seasonal

They will probably only have the cone for another week, and then they’ll replace it with something else on the menu. Things move on and off the menu pretty regularly, often in tune with the seasons. And they like to avoid things that really are duds outside of their seasons. Case in point: tomatoes.

“Like, you’re not going to have tomatoes in the winter,” said Javier. “That’s why we don’t serve Pan Con Tomate, the famous tomato bread of Spain, out of season. We only serve it in the summer.” He also revealed that people will come in during other times of the year and ask for the Pan Con Tomate, which I think for anyone who loves and understands the magic of tomatoes in season would feel a little exasperated to hear that request. “I always tell people, ‘Sorry, you just gotta wait!’ And that’s that. It is worth it,” said Javier.

At the writing of this article, the Pan Con Tomate should be be on the menu. “I’ve been experimenting with the actual bread part for a couple of weeks now,” remarked Javier. “And we’ll please all the people that have been waiting for it!”

Luck, Hard Work, and Giving the People What They Want

It was nice to hear him compliment his staff. “We’ve been really lucky,” he said. “We have an amazing staff that is super committed here. We all really love being here. And we’ve been lucky to be around as long as we’ve been.”

At the counter, we three agreed that it was a real accomplishment to make it through COVID and recover with so much interest and desire by Portland eaters to dine at Urdaneta. Obviously they are offering something people want to eat and get excited about enjoying.

But at the start of his journey, he says that he had no idea what he was getting himself into. “I was doing a pop-up of elevated Basque food,” he explained. “I was doing all these other things, and I had no idea what this would would be. But it’s been very exciting and rewarding to watch it grow the way that it has.”

Local Products and Tariffs

The topic of tariffs came up—love ’em or hate ’em, they are a restaurant’s current reality. “So the good thing about us is that we use a lot of local products here,” said Javier. “What we do import are cheeses, anchovies—those kinds of things.” As far as dealing with the tariffs on European goods he says, “We will have to figure that out when the time comes.”

“For the most part, we stick to a lot of local stuff. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.” And obviously what they are doing is working.

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What We Ate at Urdaneta

Here are some photos of what we ate that night, and some observations. Everything was expertly made and high quality. The level of excellence I experienced at this dinner was very much in line with my previous experiences there as a paying customer. Including the gracious hospitality.

NA Vermouth Spritzes

Shortly after we arrived they offered us some NA Vermouth spritzes. I got white, and Kathleen got red.

The were less sweet and, especially in the case of the white Vermouth, rather dry, which is a nice change of pace, as a lot of NA mixed drinks can be sweet. These were nice big glasses, too.

Gazpacho

They started out the food portion with a couple of small servings of gazpacho. I absolutely loved these little clay pots that held the gazpacho. Smol all the way. There was tomato and garlic in it for sure, and I wondered if there was a bit of sweet red pepper in it. It was smooth, luscious, and tasted like late summertime.

Gilda 2.0, an Urdaneta Specialty

Next was the Gilda 2.0. The spherified olive was a trip—it resembled a jiggly egg yolk but was definitely olive. You put the entire thing in your mouth at once, and you get a briny, meaty, umami-rich mouthful. It was kind of intense in the best way—reminds me a little of what it’s like to take a freshly-pressed ginger shot, which completely overtakes your senses.

Here’s how the PR folks describe this tapa: “If there’s a single bite in Portland that tells a story, it’s the Gilda 2.0 at Urdaneta. A spherified olive, a Don Bocarte Cantabrian anchovy, a boquerón and piparra relish—all spooned into a clean, salty, acid-spiked tribute to Spain’s most iconic tapa. It’s just one of the deceptively simple dishes on Urdaneta’s current menu that’s capturing the soul of Spanish snacking with technical precision and Pacific Northwest produce.”

Jamon Iberico de Bellota

They brought over some Spanish ham, such a treat. Meaty, a little sweet, salty, with a soft yet sturdy texture. I really enjoyed its texture. We nibbled at it throughout the first half of the meal.

Tortilla Española

This is the Tortilla Española. It was a little different than I’ve had at other places. Our server told us that at Urdaneta, they prefer a looser, moister tortilla. It was also less uniform in the shape of the ingredients—there was more space between the potatoes and the other ingredients. I liked this but realized that I prefer a less juicy version of this dish.

It came sitting in this nice sauce that I think was made with peppers. A tiny salad was on top with some roasted Sungold tomatoes.

Ensalada de Tomate

The Ensalada de Tomate is made with heirloom tomatoes and Walla Walla onions atop an albacore tonnato. All that is then topped with a Marcona almond crunch, basil oil, and herbs.

It was a beautiful dish and tasted great. However, as it is tomato season, we felt the tonnato gilded the lilies that were the heirloom tomatoes. Also the tonnato, as tasty as it was, reminded me visually of hummus a bit, so what I saw with my eyes did not always align with my tongue.

This really is a case of preference over anything—quality was excellent as was presentation. I did love the smooth tonnato texture and who doesn’t love heirloom tomatoes this time of year? The Marcona almond crunch was also a fun addition. This is a lovely seasonal dish.

Pulpo a la Brasa

We had a plate of Pulpo a la Brasa: grilled Spanish octopus, fingerling potato pirpirrana, leek marmalade, saffron aioli, and chorizo XO.

Now, my experience with octopus has been solely in the context of Greek cuisine. I remember when I first was presented with octopus, years ago, I was concerned it was going to be chewy like calamari, which is not really my bag. Well, it’s nothing like that—when cooked right it’s meaty, tender, and downright delicious. I’ll always love your octopus, Taverna Kyclades.

So, I was so pleased that the octopus here was cooked so nicely and reminded me of how tender and meaty it can be. The potatoes were a hearty element, and the dish was a great combo of flavors and textures.

Salmón

Our final savory dish was the Salmón. And dang is was so good! Crispy skin salmon, Sungold harissa sauce, padrón peppers, topped with celery stalks and leaves. Salmon was perfectly cooked—moist flesh and that crispy skin was a nice contrast. The sauce was excellent, gorgeous, and I could eat it on almost anything. It was my favorite protein of the evening.

Dessert

I gotta admit—we were pretty full, but still easily enticed by the idea of dessert. Urdaneta is known for their Basque cheesecake (fun fact: It was at Urdaneta that I first tasted Basque cheesecake). But our server also recommend this kind of deconstructed s’mores flan. I was like, hmm … ok, we’ll try it but it probably won’t be as good as the Basque cheesecake.

Shocking result: I liked the flan better than the cheesecake! I really did not see that coming. That said, the cheesecake was, as usual, very good.

They also offered us this NA digestif along with our desserts.

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Many thanks to Chef Javier and his staff, Qué Chilero Group, and Kathleen Bauer for a wonderful meal at Urdaneta. If you haven’t had a chance to enjoy their food, I encourage you to stop by. They’ll greet you with warmth and smile, and serve you some excellent food.

Urdaneta
3033 NE Alberta St, Portland
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