Ca Joan, the restaurant that serves steaks to the limit with two years of maturation

Altea It is considered one of the most beautiful coastal towns in the province of Alicante, perhaps the most. A charming town, with steep streets and houses with white facades, in which one imagines enjoying some prawns or some ‘sepionets’ – tiny cuttlefish – in a seafood restaurant. However, in 2008, Joan April, a hospitality family entrepreneur, decided to take another path to create his project. “After working in my parents’ restaurant, I fell in love with gastronomy and decided to start my own place. From the beginning it was clear to me that it had to be a steakhouse & rdquor ;. Was born Like Joan, considered today one of the temples for carnivorous enjoyment in Spain.

What has put on the gastronomic map Like Joan Are the long maturing meats. Very long. “Our current record is 722 days. Yes, we have come to serve in the restaurant beef steaks with two years of maturation. These are points where you are a bit on the edge, on the wire, you have to be very careful not to go overboard and spoil everything & rdquor ;, explains Joan, between amused and proud.

A way to explore

That bet to let the meats refine to the beat of time was not on the table from the beginning. “When we opened, we served chops, entrecots & mldr; But from time to time We left a piece in the fridge to see what would happen and we checked that it was better and more tender than the others. Then we realized that there we had a way to explore & rdquor ;.

But the process of long -or even extreme- ripening is by no means a path of flowers. “You have to get the point of the process, keep the steaks at a constant temperature and choose the animals well. We have thrown a lot of meat in the trash, completely ruined & rdquor ;, confesses Joan. The hotelier points out that, “in the meat business, and more so in maturing, the really difficult thing is to achieve regularity that supports your work”.

Ricard Camarena’s visits

“We were lucky that the chef with two Michelin stars Ricard camarena He came to the restaurant one day, came back the next and the next: three consecutive meals in which he verified that the level was maintained and began to spread the word among colleagues and food critics. For us it was very important & rdquor ;.

Old cows and working oxen

The ‘template’ of animals that the restaurant currently has for its ‘dry aged’ maturations is first class: old cows four to six years old and working oxen, the jewel in the crown, which Joan brings directly from the north of Portugal, Galicia, León or Asturias. A unique selection, with cuts that are exposed directly in the restaurant’s refrigerated chambers and that allow the curious to peek into the Ca Joan method.

“In maturation, two and two are never four and the number of days you can prolong the process depends on whether it is a cow, an old cow or an ox & mldr; You have to have a lot of control. To go to the extreme, at 700 days, you need animals that are adults and that have a lot of fat infiltration to withstand it.“She explains.”

All the life of the animal on the palate

Joan is seduced and intrigued by those flavors that appear in meats that spend a long time in the restaurant before ending up on the grill. “When you eat those chops, you come across dairy, chestnuts, berries & mldr; you are traveling with the palate all the life of the cow or the ox& mldr; Of course, as long as they have eaten grass. That is why it is impossible to mature industrial meat from animals that have been fed with feed, because there you will not find absolutely nothing & rdquor ;.

In search of those nuances, meat lovers make a pilgrimage to Like Joan, a destination restaurant because, as its owner recalls, “Altea is a town of just over 20,000 inhabitants and there are many customers who come from abroad, although, with the current restrictions, there are groups of friends who come here and spend the that before could be spent going out a night in a disco & rdquor ;. In Like Joan not everything is meat: Dénia shrimp, small squid or ‘calamarets’ or wild fish from the Mediterranean are also served depending on the season such as San Pedro rooster, dentex or snapper.

Extreme maturation at home

Joan Abril hesitates when asked about inspirations or influences in her business: “I think there was no one before us who did these long maturations & rdquor ;. Maybe Caprice, José Gordón’s restaurant located in a small town in León, whose beef was chosen in 2008 as the best in the world by ‘Time’ magazine? “Of course Gordón is a pioneer, the best barbecue in Spain, although, in principle, he was not a person who bet on prolonged maturations. But he has been a visionary who has always opted for the highest quality product & rdquor ;.

Related news

How could it be otherwise, the ups and downs of the pandemic have also shaken the foundations of Like Joan. In the middle of the pandemic, April took advantage of the closure to start making products as a peculiar beef sobrasada which he describes as “spectacular & rdquor ;. This product, along with a selection of the restaurant’s chops, can be enjoyed at home thanks to Like Joan Meat Club, the restaurant’s home delivery service, which seeks to transfer these ‘premium’ cuts of meat to any part of Spain.

“I think it has been a smart decision to bet on this new line of business, because it allows me to sell the product that I have in the restaurant. In the end, you have several spines open at the same time and you also have to output them & rdquor ;. But is it possible to emulate the Ca Joan experience at home? “You don’t have to do much with these special meats; you simply have to temper each piece before cooking it, then seal it on the grill or in the pan and, finally, turn it over and over. However, let each one eat the ribeye as they wish. It would be more! “.