Breakfast of champions indeed...

Hola,

today we woke up earlier than usual to try for the second time to get a seat at "Pinotxo", a longstanding uber popular tapas bar in the famous La Boqueria market. After waiting and hovering over the tiny, 10 seat bar with a couple of delicious espressos, we finally got a spot. This time, we were prepared to be served whatever was cooking, but as they were already running out of some things, they gave us a few options. We chose chickpeas with onion, currants, herbs and some sort of carne (later found out it was blood sausage), fried baby lamb riblets, and pork sausage with catalan (tomato-rubbed) toast. Along with a glass of Torello reserva cava, it was quite a delicious and gluttonous breakfast. I'm not one to order anything involving blood sausage, but the chickpeas were very tasty,  a bit earthy, and had a nice salty and sweet contrast.  The fried lamb was also great, a little reminiscent of chicken nuggets, but with fresh, good quality meat as opposed to the mystery meat that's in McDonald's chicken mcnuggets. Finally, the sausage was probably unnecessary since I was stuffed after the lamb, but it was awesome, and went delicious alongside the best catalan toast we've tried so far!

Me encanta Barcelona (Continued)

Hola again,

....to continue with the last post, after our cava and pintxos at "La Vinya del Senyor", we explored our neighborhood, El Born. Less touristy than many neighborhoods in Barcelona such as Las Ramblas and Barceloneta, El Born offers an interesting mix of the old and the new. The neighborhood is a small grid of charming, age old, narrow alleyways stacked high with those quintessential European apartments, in which windows are slightly ajar, overlooking small patios and clothes drying in the breeze. Gothic architecture abounds, and is best represented by the gorgeous "Santa Maria del Mar." Nestled side by side with these artifacts are modern, fairly high-end shops and galleries, along with a plethora of restaurants, pintxos bars and specialty grocery shops.

After nearly losing ourselves in the patchwork of alleyways, we decided to get a small snack before dinner. "Bilbao Berria" is a classic Catalan pintxos bar, offering a long bar filled with platters of delicious morsels attached to slices of bread with toothpicks. Prices and menus are virtually non-existant, and the pintxos are not labeled, making it little mysterious at times. Nonetheless, we quickly observed how the system worked: take a plate, fill it with whatever your heart desires, find a seat and a server will come to offer you a beverage. After you've eaten, the server will count your toothpicks and present you with a bill; simple and a little brilliant! There was a wide variety of options, some a little scarily reminiscent of 80s party food, and others so appealing, it's easy to fill your plate to the brim. We settled on jamon with a quail egg and padron pepper, red peppers stuffed with tuna salad, boquerone with minced peppers, and raw white fish (again a mystery) with tomato and olive tapenade. Oh, and a little skewer of olive, pickled pepper, anchovy and quail egg. They were all pretty tasty, in particular the red pepper stuffed with tuna!

           
I love the small bite concept of eating; less commitment, and more flavor...It also allowed us to continue our night of gluttony without feeling too guilty.





Next, we headed to Cal Pep, which I had read good things about in the Time Out Barcelona guide. After waiting about 15 minutes, we squeezed into the tightly packed bar and again, no menu in sight. A friendly waiter asked us if there was anything we would not eat. We replied "no", and shortly after were presented with baby clams in a steamy, frothy, garlicky broth with bits of jamon, a generous portion of little fried fish, pan-fried padron peppers and a platter of jamon iberico. We commented that the waiter had read our minds, because that is exactly what we would have ordered had we been presented with a menu!

The food was rustic and simple but so satisfying, and went perfectly with a bottle of Sumarroca Rosat from the Penedes. In particular, the Jamon Iberico was too good to be true, perhaps the best ham I have ever had, and was especially tasty when eaten with a slightly hot, blistered padron pepper on a piece of crusty bread! Looking back at the experience, it does seem a bit sketchy to let a stranger decide what you're having for dinner, especially in a foreign country. Regardless, I am so glad we did, and we've already decided to

return to Cal Pep at least once before we leave! 

Me encanta Barcelona!

Hola,

Barcelona is amazing! Life almost revolves around eating, drinking, and socializing, be it espresso with pastries in the morning, a long leisurley lunch with friends in the early afternoon, some pintxos (the catalan version of tapas) served with a beer or cup of vino around 3 or 4, and a late but generous dinner around 10...The streets are dotted with cervecerias, outdoor cafes, wine bars and specialty grocery stores overflowing with cured meats, local cheeses, olives, and tins of various preserved peppers, anchovies, mussels etc.

After settling into our hotel "Banys Orientals", which happens to be in a very cool neighborhood called El Born, we set out to explore our surroundings. We didn't get but a couple blocks from our hotel when we stumbled upon a very quaint little wine bar called "La Vinya del Senyor" with outdoor seating overlooking the beautiful church "Santa Maria del Mar." Two glasses of cava later, we had made some friends from Wales and sampled our first Catalan pintxos: anchovies wrapped around olives and pan con tomato (bread slathered with olive oil and tomato pulp, sprinkled with sea salt). Everything was delicious, the ambiance unbeatable, and it took much self control not to spend the rest of the afternoon basking in the sun and sampling everything else on the menu!

Intermission: Daniel says we have to go to dinner now....Didn't we just eat? Oh well, more to come later!

Mas tapas por favor!

Hola,

Dismal weather (ie 2 days of rain and clouds) plus Easter Sunday has slightly hindered our mission to eat delicious food and explore our surroundings. Today we were determined to make up for this delay as we headed to downtown Torrevieja, a coastal town with some very old Moorish-style architecture  interspersed with modern shops, apartments, tourist-ridden promenade cafes and street vendors...As we strolled through the promenade alongside the water, the sun finally popped into view, and it felt like a sign to stop for a glass of vino blanco and some snacks!

We settled into an outdoor table at "Casino" (pictured above), a longstanding cafe where the inside, window-lined seats are reserved solely for Spanish men. After a quick peek inside to check out the tapas on display, we decided on tortilla espanola, albondigas, gambas al ajillo, sepia al la plancha, and jamon serrano (again, this shows some restraint as there were over 50 items on the menu)! The gambas al ajillo (or shrimp poached in olive oil and garlic) were sublime, something I would love to eat on a daily basis, and the flavored oil with a bit of chile made the perfect dip for crusty bread. The sepia (or cuttlefish) prepared on the grill was more intriguing than it was tasty. Tough and rubbery in texture, we pushed it aside to focus on other things, ie: the massive amount of thickly sliced jamon serrano, served with salty marcona almonds! The freshly sliced jamon was quite delicious, super salty with a melt-in-your-mouth quality that is not found in jamon sold in grocery stores in the states. Muy bueno! The Albondigas (or meatballs in tomato sauce) were an afterthought, and a little too reminiscent of canned chef boyardee spaghetti and meatballs that I remember eating as a small child. Finally, the tortilla espanola (kinda frittata like) was very tasty, prepared with sweet onion and english peas. I told Daniel we should take before and after photos, although it is too late now...Pure gluttony, and we also had dinner to look forward too!

Hola Amigos! We have arrived in Spain, jet-lagged and all...

After the longest flight of my life, via NY and Madrid, we finally arrived in Alicante, Spain on Thursday, April 21st, Daniel (who slept the entire time) excited and hungry for tapas, and me sick and sleepy, and unable to keep my eyes open...After a couple of days of adjusting to the time change, soaking up some sun, and enjoying Rose-Marie's beautiful, oasis-like, Mediterranean-style home, we finally set out to the beach to taste our first of many tapas! Situated above a very touristy yet picturesque beach, "La Mirada" offered a plethora of tapas and traditional Spanish fare. 

We ordered 1 Litre of sangria to start, which was quite delicious, perhaps because we were drinking it on the beach in Spain on a gorgeously sunny day as opposed to a dingy dive bar in San Francisco. Regardless, it was slightly spritzy with orange, pear and cinnamon!  Next, we had to restrain ourselves from ordering one of everything on the menu, so we settled on mussels in vinaigrette, potatoes with aioli, calamari, and white anchovies (boquerones) marinated in olive oil, garlic and herbs.  The mussels were muy bueno, and by far my favorite, fresh from the sea, marinated in o. oil, vinegar, with minced green and red peppers, white onion and tomato on top. I must note that our view from "La Mirada" offered not only the lovely beach and sea, but also a few too many middle-aged European men (a bit past their prime I might add) flaunting their guts in speedos they have probably owned since their early 20s...Nonetheless, our first stop on the Tapas tour was a success, only strengthening our appetites for more..Back at La Casa, we took a much needed siesta...        

primero entrada:

T minus 37 hours to travel; destination= Torrevieja, Spain followed by Barcelona, Spain...

As my first ever entry as a blogger, I am looking forward to documenting and sharing my culinary trials and tribulations, artistic and architectural treasures, and cultural perceptions as I travel to a couple very different locales in the beautiful country of Spain....Although I speak only a couple of common phrases worth of Spanish with a very forced lisp, I will try my best not to offend the Spaniards that I encounter, and hope dearly to pick up on a bit of language and cultural savvy while I'm there. I hope to offer photos (both via digital and holga cameras-don't hold your breath) as well as written accounts of tapas bars, restaurants, beaches, parks, art, buildings etc...Until then, take care and check back soon!