Restaurant: Atari
Location: Calle Mayor, 18, 20013 San Sebastian, Gipuzkoa, Spain
Date: June 19 & 23, 2016
Cuisine: Spanish Tapas
Rating: The best traditional tapas we had in San Seb
San Sebastian is packed with tapas & pintxos bars, but the quality varies wildly from okay to awesome. We had the most success using recommendations from Foodie friends who had visited in previous years, even though a good percentage of the top bars were “mysteriously” closed for vacation.
Atari was on the recommended list and is located adjacent to the entrance to the big baroque church.
The interior is typical and there is an extensive patio as well.
El menú.
Typical bread.
I find Albarino, even this so-so one, to be a fabulous tapas
Atari has a counter full of pintxos. We didn’t really focus on these, but here are a couple.
Grilled tuna with cream of marmitako and vinaigrette.
Marinated white anchovies with crushed pepper. I just love these tangy little fish.
Fried green padron peppers. Salty but good.
White tuna pickled, green peppers, anchovies, and olives. This is a to die for set of marinated goodness. I particularly love the olives and the mildly spicy skinny green peppers.
Home-cured salmon with a horseradish cream. Like little sashimi cubes.
Salmon tartar. There was something sauced in here that led to a very interesting and addictive flavor.
Pate of foie gras on toast. Tasted as good as it looks.
Tomato salad.
Cod croquettes. Declared the best croquetas of the trip.
Patatas bravos. Above they appear as patatas frito.
This is the bravos part. Personally I prefer the orange potent sauce and covering the potatoes.
Fried calamari with confited garlic aioli. Great example. Nice chewy strips and great fry.
Scrambled eggs.
Some Rioja Blanca to step up the white wine.
Oyster mushrooms ravioli with foie gras sauce. We ordered 4 orders of these!
Grilled octopus with bravos sauce, potatoes, and onions. I feel bad about eating octopus (it’s a smart animal) but this one tasted so good — and actually the bravos sauce and veggies was even better.
Grilled foie gras with white chocolate and sweetcorn cream. Just amazing.
Rice of the day. Basically a chicken paella. I think it had chicken skin in there.
Hake with seasonal sauce.
Beef cheek with… (like mom’s beef stew — super tender)
mashed potato.
Plate of Spanish cheeses.
Overall, the group consensus was that Atari was the best “straight up regular” restaurant we went in the San Sebastian area. The dishes actually tasted better than most of the modern tapas. We weren’t comparing to the Michelin level restaurants, as it’s a totally different thing, although it was tastier than Mugaritz. haha. More on that later.
Basically the dishes are contemporary traditional, but the execution is superlative. Tons of flavor. Good ingredients. All that.