Diego Guerrero is the Spanish chef-owner of DSTAgE in Madrid, a two-Michelin-star restaurant with a Michelin Green Star located in the Salesas district of the Spanish capital. Born in 1975 in Vitoria, Basque Country, Guerrero came to prominence as chef of El Club Allard in Madrid, where he earned two Michelin stars before leaving in 2014 to open his own restaurant. DSTAgE opened in 2014 on Calle de Regueros 8 and stands as one of Madrid leading avant-garde tasting-menu destinations.
DSTAgE holds two Michelin stars and a Michelin Green Star for sustainability, retained in the 2026 Michelin Guide Spain, plus three Repsol Suns. The restaurant name is an acronym for Days to Smell, Taste, Amaze, Grow and Enjoy. In 2025 Guerrero received The Best Science Award at The Best Chef Awards for his innovative work at DSTAgE and his creative laboratory DSPOT. The restaurant closes at weekends so that the kitchen brigade has guaranteed rest days, an unusual scheduling choice at the two-star level.
TL;DR
- Spanish chef born 1975 in Vitoria, Basque Country
- Chef-owner of DSTAgE in Salesas, Madrid (opened 2014)
- Two Michelin stars and a Michelin Green Star, retained 2026; three Repsol Suns
- Previously earned two Michelin stars as chef at El Club Allard (Madrid)
- Won The Best Science Award 2025 at The Best Chef Awards for the DSPOT creative lab
Diego Guerrero key facts
| Born | 1975, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish (Basque) |
| Main restaurant | DSTAgE, Calle de Regueros 8, Salesas district, Madrid (opened 2014) |
| Michelin stars | Two at DSTAgE plus Green Star, retained 2026 |
| Style | Avant-garde Spanish; long tasting menus; industrial-chic room; emotion-driven plating |
| Previous roles | Head chef at El Club Allard, Madrid (two Michelin stars) |
| Other ventures | DSPOT creative laboratory; Peninsula Istanbul collaboration (April 2026) |
Early life and training of Diego Guerrero
Guerrero was born in 1975 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque province of Álava. He grew up in the Basque culinary tradition that produced Andoni Luis Aduriz, Juan Mari Arzak and the wider modern Basque movement, and trained at Basque hospitality schools before moving through professional kitchens across northern Spain. His career is shaped by the post-elBulli avant-garde generation that reshaped Spanish fine dining in the 2000s, with a direct creative debt to Albert Adrià and the El Bulli philosophy of emotion-driven plating.
Guerrero rose to national prominence as head chef of El Club Allard, a fine-dining restaurant in a historic building near Plaza de España in Madrid. Under his leadership El Club Allard earned two Michelin stars, placing it among the highest-rated restaurants in the city. He worked at El Club Allard for more than a decade, developing the narrative-driven tasting-menu format and the avant-garde plating that later became the DSTAgE signature.
In 2014 Guerrero left El Club Allard to open his own restaurant. DSTAgE opened that year at Calle de Regueros 8 in the Salesas district, a residential and gallery neighbourhood in central Madrid. The building is industrial-chic, with exposed brick and high ceilings, a departure from the formal hotel-restaurant style dominant in the Madrid two-star tier at the time. The restaurant received its first Michelin star in 2015 and was promoted to two stars in the 2017 guide, replicating Guerrero El Club Allard achievement within three years of opening his own place.
Diego Guerrero career timeline
- 1975: Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Basque Country
- Late 1990s: Trains in Basque hospitality schools and professional kitchens
- 2000s: Joins El Club Allard in Madrid; becomes head chef
- Late 2000s-early 2010s: Earns two Michelin stars at El Club Allard
- 2014: Leaves El Club Allard; opens DSTAgE on Calle de Regueros 8, Salesas, Madrid
- 2015: First Michelin star at DSTAgE, in the first full Michelin Guide Spain after opening
- 2017: Second Michelin star at DSTAgE
- 2021: DSTAgE receives the Michelin Green Star for sustainability
- Ongoing: Three Repsol Suns retained; DSPOT creative laboratory active
- October 2025: Wins The Best Science Award at The Best Chef Awards
- April 2026: Abelia x Diego Guerrero residency at The Peninsula Istanbul
- 2026: Two Michelin stars plus Green Star retained in the Michelin Guide Spain
Diego Guerrero signature style: democratised avant-garde
Guerrero central argument is that avant-garde cooking does not need to be ceremonial. DSTAgE is built around what he calls democratised haute cuisine: the tasting menu is long and technically demanding, but the dining room is industrial-chic and relaxed, with an open kitchen, visible pass, and a staff that engages diners more casually than a classical two-star room. The effect is a deliberate break from the Madrid hotel-restaurant tradition that El Club Allard represented during his tenure there.
The second defining element is the DSPOT creative laboratory, where Guerrero and his team develop new dishes across longer cycles than typical restaurant service allows. DSPOT work has informed the restaurant move toward ingredient-focused and technique-focused menus, and The Best Chef Awards explicitly cited DSPOT when awarding Guerrero The Best Science Award in October 2025. The laboratory has also anchored international collaborations, including the Abelia x Diego Guerrero residency at The Peninsula Istanbul that ran in April 2026.
The third pillar is staff welfare. DSTAgE closes at weekends to give the kitchen brigade guaranteed days off, a choice Guerrero has described publicly as essential to sustaining a two-star operation long term. In an industry where weekend service is the standard and Michelin-level kitchens routinely run six- or seven-day weeks, the five-day schedule has drawn attention as a structural response to chef burnout. The approach echoes moves by Niko Romito at Reale in Italy and other European chefs experimenting with reduced service weeks at the two- and three-star level.
Notable dishes at DSTAgE
Several DSTAgE dishes have become reference points in modern Madrid fine dining. The restaurant tasting menu runs around 16 courses, built around narrative sequences that shift each season. Signature work includes lacquered eel with Spanish bean stew, a reinterpretation of classic Basque and Castilian legumbres; seared foie gras with unusual umami and fruit pairings; and seafood courses that apply Basque technique to Mediterranean and Atlantic catch. Cheese and dairy courses from Basque and Asturian farmers appear regularly, and the restaurant pastry section produces some of Madrid most experimental desserts, including unusual texture and temperature contrasts. DSPOT-developed dishes rotate onto the menu as they graduate from the creative laboratory.
Diego Guerrero awards and recognition
- Two Michelin stars at El Club Allard as head chef (before 2014)
- 2015: First Michelin star at DSTAgE
- 2017: Second Michelin star at DSTAgE
- 2021: Michelin Green Star for sustainability at DSTAgE
- Three Repsol Suns (top Repsol Guide rating)
- Three Knives at The Best Chef Awards
- October 2025: The Best Science Award at The Best Chef Awards
- 2026: Two Michelin stars and Green Star retained in the Michelin Guide Spain
Diego Guerrero impact on Madrid gastronomy
Guerrero most concrete contribution is the industrial-chic two-star model in Madrid. When DSTAgE opened in 2014, Madrid two-star tier was dominated by hotel-based formal rooms. DSTAgE proposed that serious tasting-menu cooking could sit in a raw, brick-walled space with an open kitchen and a relaxed service register. Several Madrid openings in the following decade have followed that template, reshaping expectations for what a Spanish two-star dining room looks like.
The second contribution is the staff welfare and research model. The DSTAgE five-day service week, the DSPOT creative laboratory, and the long seasonal development cycles have made the restaurant a visible example of a sustainable two-star operation. The 2025 Best Science Award at The Best Chef Awards recognised specifically the research framework, not just the plates. The Guerrero approach has influenced discussions about kitchen labour conditions across the Spanish fine-dining scene.
Within the current Spanish fine-dining generation he sits alongside avant-garde peers from the post-elBulli school and contemporaries who run parallel creative-laboratory programmes. The broader Spanish two- and three-star generation continues to produce some of the most technically advanced and conceptually adventurous tasting menus in Europe, and DSTAgE occupies a distinct position in that landscape as the industrial-chic, science-forward Madrid flagship.
Diego Guerrero FAQ
How many Michelin stars does DSTAgE have?
Two Michelin stars plus a Michelin Green Star, retained in the 2026 Michelin Guide Spain. DSTAgE earned its first star in 2015 and was promoted to two stars in 2017. The Green Star for sustainability was added in 2021 and has been retained each year since.
Where is DSTAgE?
At Calle de Regueros 8 in the Salesas (Chueca) district of central Madrid. The restaurant occupies a 300-square-metre industrial-chic space with an open kitchen, exposed brick, and high ceilings. DSTAgE closes at weekends to give the kitchen brigade scheduled rest days.
What does DSTAgE stand for?
DSTAgE is an acronym for Days to Smell, Taste, Amaze, Grow and Enjoy. The name reflects the restaurant emotion-driven, narrative approach to the tasting menu format, which typically runs around 16 courses across two sittings per service.
What is DSPOT?
DSPOT is Diego Guerrero creative laboratory, where the DSTAgE team develops new dishes across longer research cycles than typical restaurant service allows. DSPOT was explicitly cited when The Best Chef Awards honoured Guerrero with The Best Science Award in October 2025.
Did Guerrero work at El Club Allard?
Yes. Before opening DSTAgE, Guerrero was head chef of El Club Allard in Madrid, where he earned two Michelin stars. He left in 2014 to open his own restaurant, replicating the two-star achievement at DSTAgE within three years of the 2014 opening.
What is next for Diego Guerrero
Following the October 2025 Best Science Award, the April 2026 Peninsula Istanbul residency, and the 2026 Michelin star retention, Guerrero remains focused on DSTAgE as the core of his work while expanding the DSPOT creative-laboratory programme and international collaborations. The DSTAgE five-day week continues as a working model for sustainable two-star operations. His public Instagram (@diegogguerrero) is the best source for current updates.
