RESTAURANT PABÚ BRINGS MADRID’S MICRO-SEASONAL CUISINE TO CALIFORNIA
From the Santa Barbara farmers’ market to the table: Spanish chef Coco Montes presented an eight-course menu at El Encanto.
- PABÚ, the one-Michelin-star restaurant led by Coco Montes in Madrid, traveled to Santa Barbara, California, to host an exclusive dinner at El Encanto as part of its renowned Culinary Series.
- The evening brought PABÚ’s identity across the Atlantic: a cuisine guided by absolute respect for the ingredients and their precise season, meeting the bounty of the California coast.
- The eight-course tasting menu was created that very day, using ingredients that Chef Montes selected that morning at the Santa Barbara farmers’ market—proof that PABÚ’s micro-seasonal cuisine travels wherever the chef goes.
- The wine pairing featured wines of Spanish origin—from Rioja, Bierzo, Rías Baixas, Aragón, and Ribera del Duero—alongside French Champagne and Sherry, keeping the Spanish thread of the menu in mind.
- Having also cooked in Bulgaria this year, Chef Montes will continue to bring his philosophy and cuisine to Norway and Mexico.
Santa Barbara, California, July 21 – PABÚ, the Michelin-starred restaurant from Madrid led by Chef Coco Montes, crossed the Atlantic to host an exclusive dinner as part of El Encanto’s renowned Culinary Series. The event, held last Saturday, combined PABÚ’s philosophy – and its micro-seasonal cuisine – with California’s coastal bounty.
That same day, Coco Montes visited the Santa Barbara farmers’ market to select the ingredients that would shape the menu, building each dish from scratch and on the spot, the hallmark of PABÚ, where nothing is prepared in advance and everything responds to what the land and sea offer at their peak.
“Cooking in Santa Barbara with the richness and variety of produce it offers – and what we found that very morning – is exactly what PABÚ stands for: wherever we are in the world, we start with what nature gives us that day. That’s our best recipe,” said Coco Montes after the dinner.
Cada plato se elaboró desde cero, guiado por la calidad de los ingredientes y por técnicas puestas enteramente al servicio de la naturaleza, en un viaje sensorial construido en torno a algunos platos y técnicas más icónicos de PABÚ:
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- Poached baby tomato, fresh Marcona almond cream, fresh sea urchin and pickled cucumber
Wine: Breca Rosé, Aragón 2024 — a medium-intensity skin-contact rosé.
- Chilled tomato soup, peach and basil sorbet, vanilla-infused extra virgin olive oil
Wine: Rodrigo Méndez ‘Muti’ Albariño 2022, Rías Baixas — a Galician Albariño aged on lees from a small, caring producer. Not too young.
- Smoked aubergine, roasted peppers, charcoal-grilled apricot with thyme and pistachio pesto
Wine: Villota Blanco 2021, Rioja DOCa — a Rioja white with ageing and personality.
- Corn and spring garlic, tiny cherry tomatoes, lemongrass beurre blanc, cocoa and sweet potato
Wine: Vins El Cep ‘CLAROR’ Brut Nature Gran Reserva 2016 — a long-aged Cava from Catalonia, creamy and mature rather than youthful.
- Poached wild northern halibut, curry from its bones and coconut, dill and baby chard
Wine: Verónica Ortega ‘Quite’ Mencía, Bierzo 2022 — a delicate Mencía red from Bierzo, without reduction. Young, around four years of age.
- Courgette flower, grilled wagyu, roasted sauce and shallot
Wine: Vega Sicilia, Valbuena 5º, Ribera del Duero 2021 — a powerful Ribera del Duero red from an old vintage.
- Strawberries in hibiscus syrup
Wine: Lustau ‘East India Solera’ — an aged Cream Sherry.
- Floating peach, Bourbon vanilla crème anglaise and salted caramel
Wine: Delamotte Blanc de Blancs, Le Mesnil 2014 — a creamy Blanc de Blancs Champagne with age and an old vintage.
The dinner brought together cuisine, scenery, and hospitality, with the warm sunset over the Santa Barbara coast serving as the backdrop for the table at El Encanto.
The event marks a new chapter in PABÚ’s international profile, following its Michelin Star in 2024 and its Repsol Sun in 2025: confirmation that Coco Montes’s cuisine, rooted in the perfect moment of each ingredient, resonates far beyond Madrid.
About PABÚ
PABÚ is Coco Montes’s restaurant in Madrid. It’s a space where every day’s cooking is guided by absolute respect for the ingredients and their peak freshness. It opened its doors in November 2023 at 4 Panama Street as a restaurant that lives in harmony with nature. Its concept is based on transparency, craftsmanship, and a daily selection of authentic ingredients: vegetables, fruits, poultry, or fish, all at their peak.
At PABÚ, everything is made fresh daily—from natural sourdough bread to pastries and ice cream—respecting the cycles of the earth and the pure flavor of each ingredient. Its cuisine, French-inspired with a Spanish soul, is traditional and sophisticated, but above all, vibrant: fleeting, fresh, and constantly evolving. Each dish is a snapshot of the day, reflecting how micro-seasons shape the pantry and guide the menu.
About Coco Montes
Coco Montes (Madrid, 1988) is a chef who views cooking as a form of expression. Trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Madrid and Paris, he earned the Grand Diplôme in cooking, pastry, and baking.
His career has been marked by a commitment to excellence and the pursuit of purity, having spent more than six years working alongside Chef Alain Passard at L’Arpège (Paris, three MICHELIN stars), where he developed a deep connection with the world of vegetables and seasonal ingredients.
During his final stint in Paris, he coordinated the restaurant’s international events in cities such as Shanghai, Bangkok, Los Angeles, Sydney, Aspen, Abu Dhabi, New Delhi, and Punta Cana. He has also worked at Eleven Madison Park (New York), Azurmendi, and Zalacaín in Spain.
In 2023, he opened PABÚ, his personal project, which has been awarded a MICHELIN star and a Repsol Guide Sun.
>>Images HERE<<
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