When the building that was once home to Fired Pie on Congress Street became available, Freddy ElMesselmani and Jeff Baker knew what they had to do: travel to Spain.
The pair, who own Urban Pita across the street, had been toying with the idea of transforming the spot into a tapas restaurant, serving up pintxos like the ones seen in the Basque country.
But before they could make their dream a reality, they had to make sure they could do it justice.
Baker, ElMesselmani and their chef Joel Suire traveled to Spain for research, testing out all the tapas, pintxos and sangria they could.
“Every single one of us fell in love with it immediately,” Baker said. “We signed up for more tours because we wanted to learn more about the history, more about the food, more about the wine and more about the regions of the Basque.”
That’s when they knew they were ready to bring a taste of Spain to downtown Tucson.
Basqueria is a new tapas restaurant, serving up pintxos like the ones seen in the Basque country.
Basqueria, 350 E. Congress St., is the newest spot to open downtown, bringing all the deliciousness you’d find on the streets of Spain to Tucson.
“It's a new adventure for Tucson,” Baker said.
The pair have been hard at work transforming the former pizza place into an inviting, open space similar to the spots seen in Spain. The space even has garage doors at the front of the building to give the restaurant an outdoorsy feel. Soon, they plan to expand the patio all the way to neighboring restaurant Obon so the whole front side of the restaurant will be open.
They also made sure to pay homage to the Basque region by incorporating the flag and colors around the restaurant.
“All of Spain has amazingly rich traditions, art, culture and music,” Baker said. “The Basque region also has such an ancient culture, so we wanted to create a space that feels like over there.”
The real fun came when it was time to create the menu. While they were in Spain, they made sure to taste everything: breakfast, pintxos, pizza and even ventured to a steakhouse. They wanted to take everything they tried and incorporate it into Basqueria's menu.
Since they just opened, they have a smaller menu for now, wanting to focus on perfecting what they have before adding more dishes. But with so many recipes to play with, they plan to add more specials to the menu in the future.
Basqueria serves a number of skewers, including the pictured grilled lamb.
Something you will see on the menu is their variety of pintxos (pronounced like pin-chos). For those who are unfamiliar, pintxos are a small, shareable snack typically placed on bread and held together with a toothpick.
At Basqueria, you can choose from multiple different pintxos. One of Baker’s go-tos is the smoked salmon pintxo, which includes goat cheese on bread and is topped with smoked salmon, whipped hot honey and pickled onions. There are also vegetable, shrimp and lamb pintxos you can order.
So far, their lamb pintxos have been a customer favorite, with people commenting on how tender the meat is. No gaminess in sight here!
Basqueria also has different boards and main courses to choose from. Another one of Baker’s favorites is the ropa vieja, a spicy shredded beef pot roast served with rice.
“I just think it's absolutely fantastic,” Baker said. “The paella is obviously good, too.”
The Ropa Vieja at Basqueria is shredded beef pot roast served with rice.
Details matter the most at Basqueria. All three men want to make sure everyone who walks in is getting the full Spanish experience, right down to the flavors.
“He (Suire) is very much in the same belief structure as us, that the details matter,” Baker said. “Being able to repeat the menu, no matter who's in the kitchen, that's what we all want. No matter who's back there, your plate is going to come out exactly the same on a Tuesday afternoon as it is a Saturday night.”
Baker said he’s looking forward to helping diners experience the restaurant's vision, transporting them to Spain without having to take a 14-hour flight.
“The way I think about food, I kind of romanticize it,” Baker said. “You need food to survive and to share that with someone else is like you're sharing your life with them. If you can make that something that’s enjoyable, that's even more special.”
