Jabi Gartzia

The Climb

At Boroa in Amorebieta-Etxano, Spain, Jabi Gartzia has been the chef there for a long stretch that defined the house as much as it defined the role. Boroa chef from 1997 to at least 2025 / current is not built on headlines; it is built on repetition, control, and the daily discipline required to keep standards intact. In that kind of work, continuity becomes the craft, and Gartzia’s years at Boroa show what sustained service looks like when the same room must be run well, season after season. Before that, at Faisán de Oro, the work belonged to the earlier side of the ledger: the proving ground before the longer run. It sits in the same line of progress, where the kitchen is learned through service and repeated exposure rather than declaration. Taken together, these roles show a career formed through duration, not haste.

Today

On Biscay’s kitchen culture, Gartzia has been plainspoken: "Look, in Biscay there was no such big movement linked to New Basque Cuisine, but the truth is that there has always been a very high level here." The point is not movement for its own sake, but the baseline already in place. In his view, the region’s standard has long been carried by the work itself, without needing a label to validate it.

In Their Words “Look, in Biscay there was no such big movement linked to New Basque Cuisine, but the truth is that there has always been a very high level here.” “The Michelin star is a collective medal. One person alone does nothing.”

Recognition

Premio Euskadi al Mejor Restaurador (2012) marks Jabi Gartzia’s work at the level of the restaurant, not just the individual. The honor fits a career shaped by long service at Boroa and by the understanding that a kitchen’s output is collective labor. In 2012, the award formalized what the years already showed: consistency, shared effort, and the kind of control that lets a house keep its standards over time.