Welcome to Txoko.
You are here because you've heard about us somehow. We don't self-promote. We are kept alive by word of mouth, and by what happens at the table.
We exist, fuelled by a shared passion to find that hidden treasure — the gastronomical gem that bonds us. Sometimes it's a market find. Sometimes it's a family recipe. Sometimes it's a way of using the part of the vegetable everyone else throws away.
A Talde:
Generosity is not about money. Sharing a family recipe — and the hours of love it took to learn it — is the deepest generosity we know.
You get out of Txoko what you put in.
Talde (TAL-deh) — Basque for a group. Closer to a crew than a brigade. Think of it as an egalitarian Brigade de Cuisine: we lead together, we cook together, we clean together.
A Txoko talde is never more than twelve. Only two guests beyond the talde may attend a dinner, and a guest must be connected to the gastronomy of the region — or to the ingredient.
Members come from different walks of life and are connected only by the talde leader — or, where the table benefits, by two who lead together.
A talde meets four times a year.
The first night is always Basque. It is where we came from. It is where the form began. It anchors us. This night is pintxos — small dishes, plate after plate, every member arriving with something to share.
The other nights are chosen by the talde, one region or one ingredient at a time. We have travelled to Oaxaca, to Sichuan, to Naples, to the Levant, to Tamil Nadu, to West Africa. We have also rallied around a single ingredient: saffron, preserved lemon, smoked paprika, the first peas of spring. Whatever the hidden treasure asks of us next. A region or an ingredient is committed to before the talde gathers; the cook reads, shops, and prepares in advance.
Every dinner is shared in its making. Each person at the table takes a part of the meal — palete cleanser, entree, main, starch, sides, cheese or dessert — whatever the night calls for. Some nights are course-shaped; some, like the Basque first night, sprawl across many small plates. If the table is eight, the work is eight ways. No one plates up alone, and no one comes empty-handed.
A talde leader holds the standard, gathers the talde, and never lets the night be about themselves.
These are not rules. They are how the room runs.
Your food passion should drive you to work out how to.
— Txoko