There are decisions that are not made by strategy or by numbers, but by something that is more difficult to explain and that is related to the need to return. After 18 years at the helm of Baluarte, the restaurant that put Soria on the gastronomic radar with a Michelin star, chef Óscar García has decided to close his stage and return to his origins to open a new chapter in El Quintanarejo, a small district of Vinuesa, in the heart of the mountains of Soria.
The new restaurant will be called Baluarte Quintanarejo and no longer intends to compete in the league of traditional haute cuisine. García has made it clear: it will not be a gastronomic restaurant, but rather a food house. But beware, a restaurant with the experience, craftsmanship and obsession with detail of someone who has held a Michelin star and two Repsol suns for years.
@baluartesoria
The change, however, has not been impulsive. As he himself explained, it is a “difficult but very thoughtful” decision, a consequence of a personal and professional process in which he felt that the stage in Soria capital was closed. Paradoxically, he has found his new motivations in life in the place where he grew up, in an environment that he defines as “paradisiacal” and to which he is deeply linked by his family history. Both his father, who was a forester and lived in the refuge, and his grandmother are part of that landscape that is not only geographical but also emotional.
The chef acknowledges that it pains him to leave a Soria “orphan of a star”, after having paraded its name through the most prestigious places in gastronomy and having placed it on the national gastronomic map. But he also feels relief in taking this step. To do so is to renounce the constant pressure of haute cuisine, the race for distinctions and that daily requirement that, like many other chefs in the same situation, have said, requires many hours and a permanent responsibility that is not always reflected in the monetary aspect.
@baluartesoria
Curiously, he has decided to close when he was closer to a second star than to losing the first, for this Ched that was never the objective but rather the driving force behind his work is the idea of doing things well, with honesty and consistency. In fact, one of its prides has been to maintain “reasonable” prices for a starred restaurant, with two menus that ranged between 81 and 99 euros, something unusual at that level.
At Baluarte Quintanarejo wants to change the pace. Having time again to talk to clients and cook more from emotion than from pressure. There will be a menu with stews, spoon dishes, local cuisine and local products, mixing the essence of what has been learned but applied to a freer, more human and more connected format with the environment.
@baluartesoria
Work on this new space is already underway and its intention is to open in early 2026. It will be a spacious location, surrounded by nature. After thirty years in the kitchen, García faces this turn with enthusiasm and a metaphor: “If it were like a car, I have already spent hours.” But far from stopping, he has decided to change roads. And not onto a faster highway, but onto a winding mountain road. One of those that is traveled more slowly, but whose journey is remembered forever.
Cover photo | @baluartesoria and Vinuesa City Council
