Our Inspiration for Café Málaga
Mediterranean Tapas Restaurant • McKinney, Texas
Hello & Welcome! I'm Annie Stokes, owner of Café Málaga. My inspiration for McKinney's first tapas café came from my grandmother Maria Carmen Bierma Cordero, born in the Province of Málaga, Spain in the late 1800s.
Carmen, as she was known, was born in a house on a large estate just a few miles from the Mediterranean. The estate grew oranges and cork trees and stretched to the mountains in the distance. Tragically, Carmen's father died when she was only six and her mother re-married. After a series of misfortunes, the estate passed out of the family's hands and she and her brother Juan (who later became a sculptor) were sent to a convent in Algeciras by her step-father who didn't want children around. Algeciras is located just across from Gibraltar which is where her journey took her next.
Approaching the age of seventeen, she was sent by the convent to serve as the chaperone to a young English woman who had come to Gibraltar to marry one of the British Government officials there. It seems like Carmen may have needed her own chaperone as it wasn't long before she had fallen for a certain Alexander John Hurrell who was serving with the British Army garrisoned in Gibraltar. After marrying, they moved back to England and had a long and happy marriage during which she bore him ten children (my father was number 10). When my grandfather passed away, Carmen found herself widowed in her late-forties with only a tiny Officer's widow pension, and eight remaining children to care for. Her misfortune only worsened, when after 30 days she had to move out of Army Married Quarters and find somewhere to live in an unfamiliar country (though she spoke beautiful fluent English).
Carmen was a petite women of only five feet. She was tender-hearted to those around her, fiercely loyal to her friends and tough as nails when it came to survival for her family. She faced her new challenge as the matriarch of the family with good humor and dignity and was adored by all her children and grandchildren.
My favorite story about Carmen has to do with World War II. A German bomber had been shot down and crashed near the village in Dorset, England where she lived and the two crewmen were buried in an unmarked grave in a bare corner of the cemetery in which my Grandfather had been buried several years before.Carmen was found one day putting flowers on the German's grave and the vicar was outraged at this seemingly unpatriotic act, but Carmen calmly explained to him that the young men had mothers somewhere in Germany who couldn't put flowers on their sons' grave so she was doing it for them. Carmen's resilient heart that had seen her through so much sorrow and hardship, quietly gave up after 81 years.
Recently some of my family went back to Spain and found the site of the estate and house Carmen lived in before she was sent to the convent. My father was with us. He was in his seventies and it was the first time in his life he'd visited Spain. It was the week before Easter and we were sitting in a local "Venta" enjoying supper when we heard a commotion outside. The streets were lined with people and we joined them just in time to watch an elaborate Holy Week torch-light parade go by. It seemed so spontaneous and yet so ageless. A crowd of willing locals carried enormous, larger-than-life silver and carved wood statues on their shoulders. It was amazing. The realization that my grandmother had probably stood on that same street and watched those same statues go by over 100 years earlier was so overwhelming that my father wept.
The area Carmen grew up in is in Andalucia, known for its abundant harvests of olives, oranges, almonds and so many other good things from the land together with wonderful fish from its long seashores. It didn't take long for me to decide that taking this experience back to America and sharing it with my friends was what I wanted to do. Here I am, a little more than three years later. Café Málaga is completed: A little taste of the Mediterranean (and particularly Andalucia) - Tapas Restaurant in McKinney, Texas.
Where is Malaga, Spain?
A port city in southern Spain. It lies on a bay of the Mediterranean Sea at the mouth of the Guadalmedina River. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the 12th century BC and was later conquered by the Romans and Visigoths. Under Moorish rule from 711 AD, it became one of the chief cities of Andalucia. It fell to the Spanish rulers Ferdinand II and Isabella I in 1487.
It is the foremost Spanish Mediterranean port after Barcelona; among its exports are fruit and Málaga wine. It was the birthplace of Pablo Picasso. My grandmother was born in the Province of Málaga.
What's a Tapa?
Tapa in Spanish means cover or lid. Inn keepers would place a small cover over a cusotmer's wine glass and put a salty snack such as olives or ham on it. Nowadays a tapa can be any food that's served on small plates and is usually accompanied by wine or beer.
They can also form an entire meal that can range from simple items such as olives or roasted nuts to more elaborate preparations like Spanish omelettes (tortillas), stuffed peppers or kebabs.
Mediterranean cuisine is characterized by the freshest of ingredients, such as tomatoes, olives, garlic, lemons, herbs and meats such as lamb, pork and beef. Andalucian cuisine offers a special twist to the Mediterranean tradition in that Andalucia was heavily influenced by centuries of Moorish rule that saw the introduction of spices & ingredients from North Africa such as saffron, eggplants, apricots, artichokes, avocados, almonds and much more. Desserts feature almonds, lemon, chocolate & authenitic Spanish coffee (café solo & café con leche) is always available along with espresso & capuccino.
