Felicià Bofarull i Dompe, owner of the Los Caracoles restaurant between 1955 and 2006 and fourth generation of the longest-running saga of Barcelona restaurants, died this Saturday at the age of 88, his family announced this Saturday.
The restaurant was opened by the Bofarull family in 1835 in the most typical part of Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, on Escudellers Street, near Las Ramblas in Barcelona, with the name Can Bofarull, but over the years it ended up being called after one of the dishes that They gave him more fame, Los Caracoles.
Since then, four more generations of the Bofarull family have been at the helm of the establishment, which offers high-quality popular cuisine and represents the second oldest active restaurant on the Barcelona gastronomic map.
The Bofarull family has been in charge of its kitchen and dining room since the opening of the place in 1835, in charge of Agustí Bofarull and his wife.
At first it was a grocery store, but the business flourished due to international trade and soon, with the growth of maritime traffic, it became a restaurant at the hands of the second generation, headed by Felicià Bofarull Pujol, who put up stools and began to serve. dishes, including snails.
This dish acquired such fame that Can Bofarull was popularly called Los Caracoles and this nomenclature became official in 1915.
With the acquisition of the upper floor, Felicià Bofarull's bet was to go one step further and convert the premises into a restaurant and then, in 1934, its golden period began.
His two sons, Antoni and Ramon Bofarull, helped him in this, who acquired the adjacent premises, occupied by a tobacconist, and after the Civil War they brought the premises to excellence and fame with meat and fish, seafood, zarzuelas and 'suquets'. , cooked by Ramon and with Antonio in the room.
Numerous national and international personalities lived the culinary experience at Los Caracoles, including Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí.
Also tasting his dishes were Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Errol Flynn, Charlton Heston, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Julio Iglesias, Carmen Amaya, Luis Miguel Dominguín, Mark Knopfler, Lenny Kravitz, Jimmy Carter, Robert de Niro, Giorgio Armani, Catherine Deneuve , Jacques Chirac, Eric Clapton, Helena Rubinstein and even the then Prince Philip of Bourbon.
