It was a year and a half ago, Matxain Etxea began serving their
authentic Basque cuisine with a family style tradition in San Juan
Bautista.
It was a year and a half ago, Matxain Etxea began serving their authentic Basque cuisine with a family style tradition in San Juan Bautista.
The multiple dishes served and carafes of wine at the long table near the open kitchen take diners to a whole other culinary world. A lively outdoor patio, daily food specials and flamenco performances only add to the ambiance drawing patrons back over and over again.
Owner Veronica Pirl wanted to replicate the Basque family house she remembers from her youth in Spain and the comfortable Basque restaurant from her childhood in Puebla, Mexico.
“I grew up in a restaurant,” Pirl said. “I missed the people and the food. Food is so important. We love to eat.”
Pirl met her husband, Bruce, a special education teacher at Anzar High School, in the church of her Mexico home and moved to San Juan Bautista with him five years ago.
She brought her family’s love of good food and the tradition of long family dinners around the dining table with her. Pirl wanted to extend her home to reach out to a bigger family and through this desire, opened her restaurant. Now, her extended family is her customers, but the tradition still runs strong.
“Having dinner together is the most important for me. It’s a time to be friendly and to socialize,” she said. “We stay at the table for hours eating a wide variety of dishes and talking.”
For Pirl, her restaurant is truly a family affair. Her brother Luis is her partner and her uncle lends a hand as a server and a host. Her sister is often spotted helping or bringing Pirl’s two daughters in for a visit. Even her husband has been drawn in as the business manager.
“In my family, the men are the better cooks. My father and my brothers are both architects and love to cook,” she explains. “My grandfather really loved food, and my Dad, when he spent some time in Los Angeles going to university, missed his Basque food so much that when he returned to Mexico he started a restaurant. They cook, and I love to eat.”
Although her food offers an exotic taste right next to home, Pirl said a lot of people are unfamiliar with Basque food, named for the region of Spain in which it originated.
“We use special spices, only cook with olive oil and we love grilled meats,” Pirl said. “We offer a selection of unusual meats that you don’t usually see on a menu like Sweetbreads, Frogs Legs and Tongue.”
But if diners are more interested in less exotic fare, the bounty of dishes on any given day could include rabbit, lamb shank, chorizo, ham, grilled lamb, chicken and more. One can order from the family style dinner, which comes with a multitude of dishes of soup, vegetables, a grilled meat selection and a carafe of house wine; or select from different dishes, a wide variety of Pintxos (Basque Tapas), and premium bottles of Spanish and Basque Wines.
Matxain Etxea offers flamenco dancing performances the second and last Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. and provides romantic dinner music by Damien Carter on Saturdays.
“When you open the door to our restaurant, you are opening the door to our home,” Pirl said. “My dream is to have a restaurant and garden full of friends enjoying themselves and children playing. Our customers become our friends; they are part of the Matxain Etxea family.”
Matxain Etxea Basque Restaurant is open Wednesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner at 206 Fourth St., San Juan Bautista, 831-623-4472.
