José Gordón | Diego Zarate

The Climb

The work at Bodega El Capricho shows up in the title itself: chef, owner, ideologue, and responsable de I+D. That combination points to a kitchen culture built on control of both output and development, with José Gordón inside the apparatus of research as well as service. The emphasis is not decoration but method: stewardship, experimentation, and the discipline of making each layer of the project answer to the same standard.

Today

The house reads as a carefully maintained site of practice, and the plate follows the same logic. Morcilla made from 100% ox is the clearest expression of the kitchen’s point of view: uncommon in form, exact in premise, and direct about where its flavor and identity come from. It is not a garnish to the menu; it is the menu speaking in compressed form.

Signature

José's signature dishes include chuleta, cecina, and morcilla made from 100% ox. Together, they define a kitchen that works from named cuts and preserved forms, not abstraction. Chuleta carries the weight of direct butchery and force on the plate; cecina points to preservation and texture; morcilla made from 100% ox marks the most singular position in the set. Read as a group, the dishes show a program that favors intensity, specificity, and control over the raw material.

In Their Words “For this project we have reserved the best pieces and cuts, both in the cecinas and in the meat, especially the chuleta.” That line is plainspoken and useful. It places selection before presentation, and it frames quality as something separated out early, not added later. For the trade, that means the work begins with reserving the right pieces and cuts; the finished dish depends on that decision more than on rhetoric.