El Internacional (1984-1986)

Book excerpt: El Internacional Tapas Bar & Restaurant was conceived as an artistic project carried out between 1984 and 1986 by artist Antoni Miralda (born 1942) and chef Montse Guillén (born 1946) in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City. One of the first restaurants to introduce Spanish tapas in the United States, El Internacional quickly became a cultural icon and a creative hub of New York's downtown in the 1980s. It combined the social ritual of eating with installation and performance art, blurring the boundaries between food, art, design, architecture and mass media. Miralda's El Internacional (1984-1986) documents the restaurant's history through the memories of the people who contributed to it. Richly illustrated and featuring some of El Internacional's most successful recipes, this volume tells the story of a crucial piece of urban history from a city not always able to protect its landmarks.