....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!
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