Echaurren: 125 years of history and two Michelin stars attest to the quality of this gastronomic hotel with Francis Paniego at the helm
Echaurren: 125 years of history and two Michelin stars attest to the quality of this gastronomic hotel with Francis Paniego at the helm
It is not an easy task to get a family business to last generation after generation, and it is even more difficult for a family’s passion to remain alive over 125 years of history. That’s exactly what they have achieved at Echaurren, a hotel and member of Relais & Châteaux because of its quality. The family business additionally has four restaurants: Echaurren Tradición, El Portal, El Cuartito Bistro, and Salón de la Chimenea Tapas Bar.
Located in the beautiful town of Ezcaray, Echaurren offers a unique experience that combines rural luxury and haute cuisine in a century-old house completely renovated by the Picado de Blas architecture studio of Madrid – professionals who have managed to transform this old posthouse into a beautiful and cozy hotel. The architects have put a contemporary and respectful spin on all the history that the house treasures, as well as its privileged environment. The renovation is full of current and modern reminders of the establishment’s legacy thanks to the materials, fabrics, furniture, and spaces which open to the outside (a beautiful square that houses the impressive Gothic church-fortress built between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries).
At the end of the nineteenth century, Ezcaray was growing at the same rate as businesses in the mining and lumber sectors. In the center of this prosperous town, “Uncle Pedrito” and “Auntie Andrea” (as they are affectionately referred to in Echaurren) decided to open an inn on the first floor of the building where they managed a stagecoach office and a tavern. That initial inn set in motion a culinary and hotelier tradition that has lasted to this day over six generations.
Cristina, the niece of the founders, took up the reins of Echaurren’s kitchen in 1925. The restaurant had already acquired great prestige, although the post-war years were difficult. Cristina sold the business to her sister Julia. Together with her husband Luis, they ran the restaurant until 1957. The summers (still without tourists) and the long winters of Ezcaray were relieved by the pastries that Julia made in the arcades of the building. In that pastry shop, the couple’s youngest daughter, Marisa, would play, pretending she was a cook.
With everything she learned from her great-aunt Andrea, her aunt Cristina, and her mother Julia, Marisa Sánchez took over at Echaurren when she was just 18 years old. Her husband Félix Paniego took charge of the wine cellar and the business accounts. Marisa’s good work in the kitchen was recognized in 1987 with the National Gastronomy Award for Best Head Chef. Their croquettes, lamb feet, and Rioja-style potatoes left their mark on an entire era and made Echaurren and Ezcaray household names all throughout the country.
At the end of the 1980s, Marisa and Félix gathered the courage to completely remodel the facilities, with the re-inauguration being in 1989. It was then that their children stepped in to move Echaurren forward. Little by little, always with great respect for the family business’s history, they began to introduce more modern dishes and ideas.
The 2002 opening of the restaurant El Portal de Echaurren marked the beginning of a new stage. The gastronomic revolution brought on by the creative musings of chef Francis Paniego was recognized in 2004 with a Michelin Star, the first in La Rioja’s history, and a second Michelin Star was garnered in 2013.
In 2011, Francis Paniego was awarded the National Gastronomy Award for Best Head Chef, and in 2018 Chefe Paniego, sommelier and head waiter at Echaurren, received the National Gastronomy Award for Best Head Waiter. By achieving three National Awards, Echaurren has reached a milestone that very few culinary endeavors have achieved in our country.
Echaurren
Padre José García 19, Ezcaray.
Tel.: +34 941 354 047
