You can find him cooking his specialties every Saturday at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market.

On Saturday mornings, Inigo Gondra, founder of The Croquetterie, does what he loves most: cook and share the foods of his Basque heritage—croquettes, paellas, sandwiches, and other shareables—at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market. Even before moving to St. Louis, he spent many a Saturday morning cooking, first in his home city of Bilbao, Spain, and later in Barcelona. In the Basque country, people often form a txoko, a closed society of gastronomes who meet to cook and socialize. Traditionally the txoko is only open to men, and though Gondra never officially belonged to one, he often gathered with friends to cook and fraternize, starting at age 18 and continuing today. 

Tell us more about what happens in a traditional txoko. 

On Saturday mornings, the members meet and visit the local farmers’ markets to buy the foods they’ll later cook and eat. They stop to store the foods in a kitchen in the basement of a member’s home, complete with a stove, refrigerator, tables—fully outfitted for cooking and eating. Some even have dishwashers. They then go out to bars to enjoy wines and eat pintxos, small bites skewered on toothpicks, often served with breads. They return to the txoko around noon to start cooking. They play cards, drink wine, and eat by 2 or 3 in the afternoon, then clean up. 

What was different about your group of foodie friends?  

We did the same things—shop for food, go to the pintxo bars, and then return to someone’s home to cook. We made the paellas, the croquettes, fresh fish. We learned from each other. We shared our meals with our girlfriends. They were our princesses. We did all the cooking and all of the cleanup.

What was in your backpack when you moved to St. Louis? 

I moved here with my wife and worked in HR for four years, until the company closed. I had a food business in mind, making croquettes and paellas. Food has always been in my DNA. A friend and I shared a Spanish food booth at the Festival of Nations, and every year people would ask if we had a restaurant. 

You’ve prospered creatively and in business in St. Louis. What made the transition work for you? 

I visited the markets and tasted foods I had never eaten. I found a mentor and friend in Estie Cruz-Curoe from del Carmen Foods. She understands markets and food production in St. Louis. She helps me still. I learned I didn’t need to import equipment for my business from Spain. I met with Mike Klein of Contractors Welding, in Rock Hill, who was able to create my big outdoor cooking stand for the paellas. Two years later, he built a croquette machine for me based on photos I had of a 1970s Dutch machine. I discovered you can’t always miss what you left behind, or you will lose touch with what is happening in front of you. 

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