Carles Armengol: Bar inside

"When writing the book, I realized that with many of the characters I grew up with, while running around as a child between the bar tables, with many of those losers, drunks, idiots, gamblers, cocaine addicts, I learned many things that have helped me move forward, messing with life. For example, the crazy people taught me the principles of dandyism with their extravagant clothes. As a child, I was fascinated to see a man talking to himself in a Hawaiian shirt, flamenco earrings, and a sailor's hat. And how the people around him normalized it and continued eating escudella as if nothing. All those people made me pay close attention to oddities, to what deviates from the normative and socially accepted. Since then, I spend my life interested in what goes beyond the margins."

When talking about the book, Carles Armengol refers to his recently released debut novel, Collado: la maldición de una casa de comidas (Colectivo Bruxista), a vibrant and effective tragicomic sentimental memoir of the Collblanc bar and restaurant that his family ran for 84 years, and a literary birth of which the author ---fresh fifth of beer in hand, which he considers "the optimal measure"--- is especially proud. And rightly so.

Known and loved in bars, inns, and dance clubs in the city, after asking for some Gregory Porter to play in the background to maintain the balance between music and prominence, the regular continues. "I am another survivor of that generation of well-prepared young people to whom, upon leaving university, the 2008 crisis slammed the door to success in their faces. At that precise moment, the paradigm changed. Everything stopped being solid and predictable to become liquid and immediate."

"I am another survivor of that generation of well-prepared young people to whom, upon leaving university, the 2008 crisis slammed the door to success in their faces"

--- Thanks to having grown up in a diner, I developed the skills to intersperse freelance jobs, analyzing society to advise multinationals on how to sell more and serving canapés in fancy restaurants.

That duality between a licensed psychologist and the son "of a house that served menus on paper tablecloths" leads him to be, right now, focused on uniting two of the things he is most passionate about: "Understanding and analyzing social changes and restoration. Society changes and, with it, it is normal for the city's gastronomic offer to do so. But if there is something transversal that this sector can never lose, it is its human character. It is the purest profession there can be."

The purity of good service (and a bad joke)

That purity involves, in Carles' opinion, "feeding and watering workers. And it doesn't matter if they are construction workers or if they have the best 3D design agency in Barcelona: they are all workers. They all enjoy a good moment after a terrible day at work, having a well-poured beer. That is priceless."

--- A social network, but a real one.

--- Even if the sector is digitized, a waiter's bad jokes should never disappear.

Barcelona is not to blame

"I have learned to love this city more and hate it less, because hating does no one any good and she is not to blame for those in charge wanting to destroy her. It is increasingly difficult to find reasons to love her; places with tradition are scarce and franchises fight to turn her into a homogenized city, without personality or the darkness she was not ashamed of before. Despite this, I am one of those who, when walking through her sewers, says things like "què bonica és Barcelona" (how beautiful Barcelona is), says the author, about to finish his fifth and order another.

--- Is Barcelona for sale?

--- It is a city that needs to constantly turn the page. It lives under the dependence of the hype. Barcelonans have become archaeologists in search of remnants of authenticity against gentrification. But we look for them to photograph them and share them on social media.

After this reflection, the parishioner looks back to fondly remember "those Magic In The Air sessions organized by DJ Eneida Fever at Sala Magic on Paseo Picasso, which were a before and after in my life. Those nights freed me from the chains that kept me tied to the family business. I loved being surrounded by strange people dancing strange and colorful music. I felt like one of them."

--- What will make you feel great is if you accompany your beer with something to eat. We have everything: portions, combo plates, and a set menu. All very tasty and nutritious.

Carles Armengol finishes his small bottle, orders another, and rubs his hands. No one, like him, knows how to measure the quality of a bar with the best judgment. In the background, I fall in love too easily plays with Gregory Porter's voice pouring over the notes of a precise piano. Finally, the parishioner speaks the awaited words:

--- The combo plate seems like a concept designed by someone with a bad hangover who put different edible things together, but without worrying about combining flavors. When I'm alone, I love to go for the set menu at lunchtime. A quick pim-pam where a lot of things happen in a hurry. Workers, retirees, neighbors, the noise of the coffee maker, the sink full of dirty glasses and plates. I love the universe around the traditional set menu.