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Quick Eats – Casa del Mar

Sep04

Location: 1910 Ocean Way, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 581-5533

Date: December 15, 2021

Cuisine: California Spanish

Rating: Great

This is actually a catering test lunch that we did for a big event we were hosting at Casa del Mar in February 2022.

We setup in a private conference room.

This test menu represented a small sampling (maybe 1/5) of planned possible foods for our epic “station” based event. The Casa chef is Gemma Gray, a Spanish native and veteran of Trés, the much missed lunch spot helmed by Jose Andrés.

Duck Charcuterie with Candied Tangerine.

Beef Roll with Cucumbers, Green Onions and Cilantro.

Breads.

Spanish “kosher style” Paella de Montana. A vegetarian paella, quite nice.

Beef Tartare on a Crispy Rice Paper.

Tuna Ceviche with Avocado.

White Fish Taradito.

“Beet” Caprese Tower.

Condiments for a taco bar.

Habanero Salsa.

Pacific Snapper (for tacos).

Tortillas.

One of my tacos.

Roast Leg of Lamb. This was awesome, even if it was eventually replaced at the event by an even better wagyu brisket!

Sauces for the lamb.

Various pastries.

Spanish style flan by special request.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Casa Del Mar, Santa Monica, Spanish Cuisine

Tiempo de Tatel

Jul02

Restaurant: Tatel

Location: 453 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 651-8553

Date: October 26, 2021

Cuisine: About half Spanish

Rating: Tasty, great service, loud

This Vega Sicilia Unico dinner moved around a little bit but eventually settled on the new (for LA) Tatel in Beverly Hills.

Tatel is a Spanish restaurant with locations in Madrid and Ibiza that recently opened here in Beverly Hills in the classic Nic’s Martini bar in Beverly Hills.

The interior is updated a bit but still filled with gorgeous booths.

Sebastian with the chef.

The menu.

From my cellar: NV Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. VM 92. The NV Brut Cuvée de Réserve Grand Cru is fabulous. A Champagne of tension and energy, the Cuvée de Réserve has real presence, not to mention tons of class. Citrus, jasmine, mint and crushed rocks are some of the many nuances that race out of the glass. In this release, the Cuvée de Réserve has a light tropical quality that is both exotic and hugely appealing. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: March, 2021. (Drink between 2021-2028)

Burrata Salad. Tomato, basil. Pretty modern salad, not particularly Spanish.

Bluefin Tuna Tartar. Avocado, Fresno chili, chive. Kind of a nod to modern dining.

Spanish Carabineros Prawn. Avocado escabeche. Not exactly gambas pil pil.

1989 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. AG 95+. Saturated dark, fresh red. Exotic dried fruits complicated by minerals, cedar, cigar box and nuts on the nose. Huge, dense and solid, with great sappy redcurrant and wild strawberry sweetness buffered by powerful acids. With its huge concentration and extraordinarily chewy extract, this has fruit of steel. The wine’s explosive, extremely long finish and great thrust go beyond 99.99% of the world’s wines. (Europvin/Christopher Cannan Selections; importers include Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY and Diamond Wine Merchants, Oakland, CA)

1994 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. VM 95+. Full ruby-red. Knockout nose combines roasted blackberry, minerals, cedar, graphite and flowers; reminded me of a very ripe vintage of Chateau Lafite. Creamy and sweet, but with penetrating, perfectly integrated acids and a structure of steel. Powerful yet wonderfully elegant wine, with flavors of crushed redcurrant, minerals, flowers, chocolate and truffle. Finishes with great length and grip. An outstanding vintage for Unico, with the sheer acid structure and flavor intensity to go on in bottle for at least another two decades. . (Europvin/Christopher Cannan Selections; importers include Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY and Diamond Wine Merchants, Oakland, CA)

Steak Tartar. Dijon, chives, shallots, sourdough. Pretty classic but very nice tartar.

Jamon de bellota 100%, COVAP D.O. The real deal ham.

Bread with tomato and garlic. This is a fairly deconstructed version of the pan con tomate. You rub the garlic on the bread. However usually they pre-chop the tomatoes for you. Personally I think the best combo is the ham ON the tomato bread.

Ham Croquette. Tomato Sugo, parsley. Solid version of the classic.

1996 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. VM 94. Deep ruby. Complex, heady bouquet of kirsch, candied plum, cured tobacco, licorice, dried rose and cedar. Pungent herbal notes build with aeration and repeat on the palate, adding complexity to the deep, ripe cherry and dark berry liqueur flavors. Remarkably elegant wine with precise cherry/berry flavors and a slow-mounting mocha quality on the long, sappy finish. There’s a very impressive interplay of fruit and tannins here. (Europvin USA, Oakland, CA)

1999 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. AG 96. Ruby-red. Shockingly deep in color for a ten-year-old wine. Explosive aromas of cherry compote, black raspberry, blood orange, Asian spices and smoky minerals. Pure, vibrant and sweet, offering intense cherry and red berry flavors, with tangy mineral spine and an exotic smokiness. Extremely deep but energetic, with a powerful echo of minerals and singed orange on the endless finish. This is remarkably youthful but highly alluring already. (Europvin USA, Van Nuys, CA)

They have a couple different types of “rice” (risotto and paella). We ordered this and two paellas.

Tatel Risotto. Semolina Orzo, parmesan cheese, truffle. Nice risotto, even if that form of rice isn’t old school Spanish.

Roasted Cornish Hen Paella. Porcini Mushrooms, thyme.

Individually plated.

Carabineros Paella. Carabineros prawn.

A more seafood variant. Nicely cooked and good flavor.

Grilled Colorado lamb rack. Very well executed, but pretty “international.”

Tatel Veal Milanese. Soft poached egg, Black truffle. Rich and bit mild in flavor.

Boomsdale Spinach. Garlic.

1989 Château Suduiraut. VM 90. The 1989 Suduiraut has always shown better than the 1990. The bouquet is quite vivacious with quince and frangipane, hints of pear and crème brûlée, certainly responding to aeration. The palate has similar weight and texture to the 1990 although, there is slightly more tension here with orange rind and marmalade imparting Barsac-like notes towards the finish. It lacks the sophistication of 21st century vintages but there is joie-de-vivre here. 89gm/L residual sugar. Tasted at a private dinner in Switzerland. (Drink between 2019-2029)

Dessert menu.

Apple Tart. Good, but grainy mild ice cream.

Tatel World Famous Cheese Cake (Basque Cheese Cake, but not burnt). Perfect creamy light texture on the cake. Ice cream mediocre. The interior was stellar actually, and on point for Basque cheese cake, but the top wasn’t really burnt.
This was a great evening. Wines ruled, of course — Unico duh!

The build out and and service at Tatel was top notch for modern high end restaurants. Additionally, given that we were a 4 person “wine group” at a trendy Beverly Hills restaurant I was surprised how nice and accommodating they were. None of that trendy place BS. Food was very high quality. I was skeptical going in as it looked pretty international, and it was in its way, but the kitchen is good and dishes were generally well executed. I’m slightly weirded out by the mix of classic Spanish dishes (again, well done) and what I think of as “boring BH staples” like Burrata Salad or Tomahawk Steaks. Half the restaurants in 1st tier cities has devolved into the Tomahawk. It’s like the goat cheese and beet salad, burrata, or hamachi with jalapeño and ponzu. So personally I would have preferred an updated (and Tatel is updated) take on roast lamb shoulder, suckling pig, etc. Or better yet LA desperately needs anything good smacking of the kind of modern Basque restaurants to be found in… well the actual Basque region. So Tatel feels like a Basque Mom who married Arnie Morton.

It should be noted that La Paella is the old school 1970s variant of this kind of place (minus any of the trendy). It’s a good place too and quite Spanish, but it’s also very dated and “old fashioned.” It’d be nice to get more modern Spanish in LA.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Foodie Club, Paella, Spanish Cuisine, Tatel, Unico, Vega Sicilia, Wine

Dirty Dozen at La Paella

Dec20

Restaurant: La Paella [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 476 South San Vicente Boulevard. Los Angeles, CA 90048. (323) 951-0745

Date: July 14, 2021

Cuisine: Spanish

Rating: Really tasty traditional Spanish

I haven’t been back here in a while, but a Spanish themed Dirty Dozen seemed like just the ticket — and there aren’t really very many Spanish restaurants in LA. Wines were all served blind.

Cute little former house or something near the Beverly Center.

The bar.

Our private room and giant table (and wine table on the left).

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this <em>cuvée</em>, but with no lack of vivacity.

2017 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin Le Banc. VM 87-89. Pale bright yellow. Fresh nectarine and minerals on the nose. A juicy if tightly wound fruit bomb in the mouth, with its intense stone fruit and citrus flavors complicated by wild herbs. The wine’s calcaire element gives it focus and cut, but there’s nothing hard about the very pure finish, which features sneaky persistence. Made from three vineyards averaging 35 years of age, according to Colin.

Me flighting the food on the fly.

2016 Alonso & Pedrajo Viticultores Rioja Suañé Blanco Reserva. JG 92. The 2016 Rioja “Suañé” Reserva Blanco from Alonso & Pedrajo is fermented and aged three months in amphora and bottled without any added sulfites. The 2016 version is a lovely golden color and offers up a complex bouquet of tangerine, toasted nuts, salty soil tones, citrus peel, a bit of browned butter and a topnote of menthol. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite rock solid at the core, with lovely soil signature and grip, almost a bit of backend tannin and a long, complex and zesty finish. There is a touch of natural wine “wildness” on the nose here, but the palate is fresh, vibrant and complex and seems to still have years of life ahead of it. This is hardly a classical example of Rioja Blanco, but it is an excellent wine with its own, unique personality. (Drink between 2021-2026)

From my cellar: 2012 Raul Pérez Rías Baixas Muti. VM 92. Light, bright yellow. High-pitched citrus and orchard fruit aromas are complemented by jasmine, green tea and chalky minerals. The mineral quality carries onto the palate, underscoring vibrant lemon/lime and pear flavors that gain flesh with air. Finishes stony and precise, with excellent persistence and lingering florality.

2017 Rivers-Marie Chardonnay Sonoma Coast. VM93. The 2017 Chardonnay (Sonoma Coast) from Rivers-Marie is a fabulous wine in its peer group. Rich, intense and full of flavor, the Sonoma Coast Chardonnay packs a serious punch. Orchard fruit, crème brûlée, butter, tangerine and yellow flowers all develop in a deeply-layered, resonant, utterly gorgeous Chardonnay. Although labeled as an appellation Chardonnay, all the fruit for the Sonoma Coast bottling comes from Riddle. More importantly, the Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is a great example of just how compelling the 2017 vintage is at the top for Sonoma’s Burgundian varieties. And the $30/bottle price range? Insane. (Drink between 2020-2029)

Gambas Al Ajillo. Shrimp sauteed with garlic and chili pod.

Caracoles Al Ajillo. Snails sauteed with garlic and a touch of chilli.

Boquerones En Vinagre. Marinated small silvery fish fillets.

Calamares A La Plancha. Grilled squid with garlic and parsley.

Bread.

Garlic Aioli and Olive Tapanade.

1976 R. López de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva Viña Bosconia. VM 95. Thirty years after the vintage the two 1976 Gran Reservas still fully express the qualities of their unique terroirs. The seductive 1976 Viña Bosconia Gran Reserva is another ethereal beauty, revealing an expressive nose along with notes of earthiness, sweet perfumed fruit, cocoa, flowers and an occasional hint of white truffle that floats out of the glass. Fresher and more vibrant than the Tondonia Gran Reserva, it offers outstanding length and notable structure in an understated yet profound expression of Rioja. It is that rare wine that invites contemplation by engaging all of the taster’s senses. A great effort. (Drink starting 2013)

1994 R. López de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia. VM 95. Brilliant red. A highly complex, expansive bouquet evokes cherry liqueur, pipe tobacco, incense, vanilla and woodsmoke, accompanied by hints of five-spice powder and licorice in the background. Sweet, expansive and seamless in texture, offering intense cherry-vanilla, spicecake and rose pastille flavors that deepen slowly as the wine opens up. Fully mature but with plenty of life left in it, this wine finishes impressively long, supple and sweet, displaying discreet tannins, resonating spiciness and suave florality. I reviewed this wine five years ago and am very happy to say that it has improved with additional bottle age. (Drink between 2020-2035)

Aceitunas Variadas. Mixed green and black olives

Champiñones Con Chorizo. Mushrooms with Spanish red sausage.

Croquetas De Pollo. Fried chicken croquettes.

2001 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 890 ‘Selección Especial’. 94 points. This is great, and up there with the best La Rioja Alta wines I’ve had, but it still wasn’t quite as good as I’d expected. Personally I think this wine is far from its peak, as it was still evolving in the decanter over the course of the evening. At first it just seemed to have a bit too much oak on display and was slightly out of balance. By the end of the night it was definitely starting to sing, but still felt slightly muted. I am probably being hyper-critical as I was expecting so much, and also I know there can sometimes be wide bottle variation with LRA wines, so it’s possible that was factor here. At any rate there’s no rush to drink and I’m excited to see where it ends up (if I can be patient enough!).

2005 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial. 94 points. Smooth, full and complex. Soft fruit, spice and umami. Tannins are there but well integrated. Love its versatility. Pairs beautifully with so many dishes. It has been a pleasure to share this wine’s journey.

2009 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial. VM 94. Vivid ruby-red. A highly perfumed, expansive bouquet evokes ripe red and dark berries, cherry liqueur, coconut and cigar box, along with a sexy floral nuance that emerges slowly. Plush and seamless on the palate, offering sweet, deeply concentrated blackberry, cherry-vanilla and mocha flavors that are given spine and lift by a core of juicy acidity. Rich yet energetic in style, displaying superb finishing clarity, even tannins and a lingering spicecake note. The Tempranillo saw only American oak while the Mazuelo component saw only French. (Drink between 2020-2030)

The meat tray.

Queso Manchego, En Tacos. Small cubes of Spanish year old sheep cheese.

Chorizo – Importado De España. Slices of imported all natural “Chorizo”: pork, paprika,garlic.

Jamón Serrano – Importado De España. Slices of imported salt-cured ham from Spain.

Yarom, Erick and I split some Chinese caviar to make some Jose tacos.

2003 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. VM 95. Inky ruby. Highly aromatic scents of ripe cherry and dark berries, singed plum, cured tobacco and succulent herbs, with a vanilla undertone. Sweet, expansive and powerful, offering intense black and blue fruit flavors with smoke and floral accents. Rich and full but surprisingly lively, with excellent finishing thrust and sweet, harmonious tannins adding grip. Shows the ripeness of the vintage to good effect; this is a somewhat approachable and exotic Unico, especially with some air, but it has the concentration to age slowly.

2004 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. VM 96. Inky ruby: doesn’t look like a ten-year old wine. A heady, intensely perfumed bouquet evokes ripe red and dark berries, vanilla, pipe tobacco, new leather and potpourri, with a subtle mineral flourish. Spicy, sweet and expansive, offering palate-staining cherry compote and cassis flavors with exotic violet and chewing tobacco qualities. Deepens and gains spiciness on the smooth, gently tannic finish, which lingers with superb focus and tenacity.

Arròs Négre. Cuttlefish, calamari, baby shrimp and mussels cooked with rice and squids’ ink.

Paella Valenciana Mixta. Rice, saffron, chicken, pork, seafood, vegetables with a touch of red peppers and rosemary.

Plate of carbs!

2004 Artadi Rioja Viña el Pisón. VM 95. Inky ruby. The nose is breathtaking in its floral, mineral and fruit intensity, offering a near-hallucinogenic bouquet of fresh and dried flowers, raspberry, wild strawberry, blackcurrant, cured meat, licorice, iron and graphite. This smells (and tastes) like a blend of great Hermitage and grand cru Vosne-Romanee. Deep, sexy and ridiculously sweet, the red and dark berry flavors coating every square inch of the palate, with gentle tannins providing enough supporting structure. This is almost absurdly packed with fruit and features a sappy, seemingly endless finish that’s nothing short of remarkable. Wow! (European Cellars, Charlotte, NC)

From my cellar: 2006 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. VM 97. Saturated ruby. An amazingly complex array of red and blue fruit preserve, spice and floral scents is accompanied by suggestions of incense, pipe tobacco, coconut and candied licorice. Utterly stains the palate with impressively concentrated yet lively, smoke- and spice-laced cherry compote, blueberry, fruitcake and violet pastille flavors braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Sappy and broad on the endless finish, which shows outstanding thrust and dusty tannins that are absorbed by the wine’s densely packed fruit. (Drink between 2025-2040)

NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 2005, 2006, 2007 (2018 Release). VM 95. Inky ruby. A deeply perfumed bouquet evokes ripe and red and dark berries, pipe tobacco, cola, mocha and incense, and a smoky mineral nuance gains strength as the wine opens up. Stains the palate with sweet blueberry liqueur, cherry cola, candied violet and spicecake flavors that smoothly blend richness and energy. Shows no rough edges and finishes extremely long and sappy, with resonating florality and fine-grained tannins that lend gentle closing grip. This is the 2018 release of this non-vintage blend. (Drink between 2022-2035)

NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 2008, 2009, 2010 (2020 Release). VM 97. Deep, glistening ruby-red. Highly perfumed, expansive aromas of crème de cassis, cherry preserves, vanilla, exotic spices and cured tobacco are complemented by suggestions of licorice, cigar box and espresso. Broad, dense and energetic on the palate, offering intense red and dark fruit, floral pastille, succulent herb and floral pastille flavors that show alluring sweetness and sharp focus. Finishes extremely long and smooth, with sneaky, harmonious tannins and lingering suggestions of candied rose, exotic spices and licorice. This is the 2020 release of this multi-vintage bottling. (Drink between 2025-2039)

Leg of Lamb.

Cornish Hens.

2001 Rotllan Torra Priorat Tirant. VM 91+. Deep red. Exotic coconutty oak on the rather port-like nose. At once sweeter and more primary than the Amadis, with a penetrating minerality. Also quite oaky, but has more jammy plum and blackberry fruit to stand up to the wood. Still, it’s hard to predict whether this slightly pruney wine will reward more time in bottle. Finishes with sweet tannins and good length. (My bottle of the 2000 release last year showed fresher acidity, but this is richer. ) (De Maison Selections, Chapel Hill, NC)

Bodegas El Nido Jumilla El Nido.

Oxtail.

2016 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots. VM 93-95. Very pale green-tinged yellow. Classic Chablis scents and flavors of white peach, ginger, oyster shell, iodine and flint. Highly concentrated, tactile wine offering an impression of strong dry extract and a compelling combination of pliancy and energy. A very powerful, structured Chablis with a long, chewy, saline finish. Really saturates the palate without leaving any impression of weightiness. Offers splendid potential.

Flan De Naranja. Crème caramel with a light touch of fresh orange.

Blue Cherry Gelato – a blend of Morello Cherry, intense Amarena Cherry, and Blueberry fruit make this dairy gelato really pop — topped with Candied Amarena Cherries — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #amarena #morello #cherry #blueberry

Burnt Basque Cheesecake Gelato — Milk steeped with Tahitian Vanilla Beans and Valencia Orange Peels and then blended with Cream-cheese and Egg Yolks, layered with house made “burnt” Caramel and topped with house-made Caramel Brittle, finished with the torch! — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #basque #cheesecake #caramel #brittle #orange

The lineup

I love Spanish cooking, and La Paella has a really nice traditional kitchen. It reminds me of Botin in Madrid at the opposite end of the Spanish culinary spectrum from modernist Calima and the ElBuli school. Personally, I love both and I need to head back to La Paella to sample even more of their menu. Some of my favorites are Gambas Pil Pil, Anchovies en Boccerones, seafood paella, and, of course, the flan.

The wines tonight were really awesome. Great wine and we had a nice mix of reserva and vintage unicos plus a ton of old Rioja. Tonight I liked the vintage ones better in general, but sometimes it’s the other way around. Great juice.

More crazy Hedonist adventures or
LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: blind tasting, BYOG, Dirty Dozen, Gelato, hedonists, La Paella, Spanish Cuisine, Wine

Unico at La Paella

Jun07

Restaurant: La Paella [1, 2, 3]

Location: 476 South San Vicente Boulevard. Los Angeles, CA 90048. (323) 951-0745

Date: May 1, 2019

Cuisine: Spanish

Rating: Really tasty traditional Spanish

I haven’t been back here in a while, but when the Hedonists decided to do an Unico dinner it had to be here — hey there aren’t really very many Spanish restaurants in LA.

La Paella is cosy and “classic.”

We had a serious lineup of Unicos tonight, and thanks to some last minute wrangling and me throwing 3-4 in the bag no need to actually serve a duplicate!

NV Billecart-Salmon Rose. Parker 90. The NV Brut Rose is a pretty, gracious wine. Freshly cut roses, red berries and spices take shape nicely in the glass as the wine shows off its understated, timeless personality. Billecart-Salmon’s NV Brut Rose is a reliably tasty wine.

Bread with butter and olive tapenade.

Yummy Spanish olives.

“Boquerones en Vinagre.” Marinated small silvery fish fillets.

From my cellar: 1994 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia. 94 points. A delicate bouquet of beeswax, dandelions, orange peel and candid citrus. Transferred to the palate to become more nutty with slightly hints of damped cellar. Oily but uplifting acidity making nice balance.

Chorizo.

Manchego cheese.

Spanish Jamon. Great WITH the cheese.

NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 1965, 1967, 1972 (1989 Release). Unfortunately corked 🙁

Croquettes. The classic béchamel and ham kind. Yum!

Asparagus with almonds and jamon. Ham always makes veggies better!

“Gambas al Ajillo.” Shrimp sauteed with garlic and chili pod.

NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 1985, 1991, 1996 (2005 Release).

NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 1991, 1994, 1998 (2011 Release). 95 points.

“Champiñones con Chorizo.” Mushrooms with Spanish red sausage.

Escargot. Snails in garlic butter. Delicious!

NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 1994, 1995, 2000 (2014 Release). 94 points.

NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 2003, 2004, 2006 (2017 Release). VM 96. Vivid ruby-red. Ripe cherry, dark berries, cigar box, vanilla bean and incense on the deeply perfumed, expansive nose. Shows impressive weight and breadth on the palate, offering sappy blackberry, candied cherry and spicecake flavors complicated by hints of rose pastille, vanilla and licorice. The smooth, strikingly long finish shows a seamless quality and repeating floral and dark berry notes that build as the wine opens up. While this wine has plenty going on right now, I’ve no doubt that it will enjoy a long, positive evolution as well.

“Arròs Négre. Cuttlefish, calamari, baby shrimp and mussels cooked with rice and squid’s ink.” Oh I love me the black rice!

Paella Valencia. With the works. A bit dull other than the sausage.

Tomatoes and onions.

From my cellar: 1994 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. VM 95+. Full ruby-red. Knockout nose combines roasted blackberry, minerals, cedar, graphite and flowers; reminded me of a very ripe vintage of Chateau Lafite. Creamy and sweet, but with penetrating, perfectly integrated acids and a structure of steel. Powerful yet wonderfully elegant wine, with flavors of crushed redcurrant, minerals, flowers, chocolate and truffle. Finishes with great length and grip. An outstanding vintage for Unico, with the sheer acid structure and flavor intensity to go on in bottle for at least another two decades.

From my cellar: 1996 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. VM 94. Deep ruby. Complex, heady bouquet of kirsch, candied plum, cured tobacco, licorice, dried rose and cedar. Pungent herbal notes build with aeration and repeat on the palate, adding complexity to the deep, ripe cherry and dark berry liqueur flavors. Remarkably elegant wine with precise cherry/berry flavors and a slow-mounting mocha quality on the long, sappy finish. There’s a very impressive interplay of fruit and tannins here.

Oxtail over rice. Delicious. Really delicious, even with the old school gravy.

Chicken or quail with garlic.

1989 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. VM 95+. Saturated dark, fresh red. Exotic dried fruits complicated by minerals, cedar, cigar box and nuts on the nose. Huge, dense and solid, with great sappy redcurrant and wild strawberry sweetness buffered by powerful acids. With its huge concentration and extraordinarily chewy extract, this has fruit of steel. The wine’s explosive, extremely long finish and great thrust go beyond 99.99% of the world’s wines.

1991 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. VM 91+. Dark red. Highly complex nose melds plum, cherry, roasted meat, iron, truffle, mocha and underbrush. Broad, sweet and concentrated, but not at all an exotic or supersweet vintage for Vega Sicilia. In fact, this smooth midweight has some rather intriguing, cool notes of minerals and botanical herbs. Finishes with fine, dusty tannins and excellent length. A much more polite style of wine than the chewy, powerful and considerably more explosive ’89.

Lamb chops with gravy and potatoes. Quite decent actually, if decidedly old fashioned.

Pork chops with vegetables. On the boring and a bit dry side.

2011 Château Doisy-Daëne. VM 92. Bright gold. Pure aromas of kiwi, gooseberry and mandarin orange lifted by fresh white flowers. Juicy, lively and intense, delivering bracing flavors of floral apple, pear and sweet spices. This fruit-driven Sauternes finishes silky and long, with palate-cleansing acidity. It’s less opulent than I remembered it, but I love this wine’s high-acid personality and aromatic purity. Not surprisingly for a Denis Dubourdieu wine, it’s very sauvignon blanc.

“Flan de Naranja.” Creme caramel with a light touch of fresh orange.

Hey, we were celebrating something!

Thai Peanut Coconut Lime Chili Gelato — Try 2 — Salty peanuts, Thai coconut, lime zest, and serrano chillies — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the last batch was too spicy so this one has no chilie in the base itself — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #NomNom #dessert #chili #spicy #thai #peanut #coconut #lime #SavorySweet #Serrano

and on the right, a bit of:

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Salty Pistachio Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Sicilian Pistachio to produce a pistachio base with a slight saltiness — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #salty #pistachio #sicily #nuts

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Caramel Nocciola Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Piedmontese hazelnut to produce a hazelnut base, then adding in house-made caramel and chopped up hazelnuts — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #hazelnut #Nocciola #caramel #nuts

The Unicos tonight were really awesome. Great wine and we had a nice mix of reserva and vintage unicos. Tonight I liked the vintage ones better in general, but sometimes it’s the other way around. Great juice.

More crazy Hedonist adventures or
LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, La Paella, Spanish Cuisine, Unico, Vega Sicilia

No Drama at Dama

Nov12

Restaurant: Dama Fashion District

Location: 612 E 11th St, Los Angeles, CA 90015. (213) 741-0612

Date: September 24, 2018

Cuisine: Spanish / Mexican — aka “Latin Inspired”

Rating: Super tasty

This slog through traffic to Downtown LA (which actually wasn’t too bad due to a late hour and it being a Monday) was to visit trendy new Dama which serves up some “Latin Inspired” food in a lounge-like setting in the Fashion District.

This is an attractive building in the middle of the big space that also contains Rossoblu.

The interior is vaguely “Cuban” or something, we didn’t eat there.

We did eat out on the patio as it was a lovely warm evening.

The menu. We ordered almost everything.

From their list: 2017 Dos de Uvas Albariño Rías Baixas Tabla de Sumar. A very “heavy” Albariño.

Guacamole. Pickled chilies, persian cucumber, cilantro, lime, crispy tortillas. Uh, classic.

Here be crispy tortillas.

Piquillo peppers. Marinated olives, anchovies, charred bread.

Crispy squash flowers. Farmer’s cheese, goat cheese, thyme, chive. Two kinds of cheese? Imagine that!

Erick brought: 1978 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial. VM 93. Medium red with an amber rim. Highly complex bouquet of fresh and dried red fruits, cherry skin, pipe tobacco, smoky minerals, cigar box and potpourri. Sweet strawberry and cherry flavors stain the palate but are strikingly lithe. Cured tobacco and candied rose flavors emerge with aeration, and the fruit takes a darker turn toward cherry. The tannins have been completely absorbed, allowing the wine’s almost decadent sweetness to come through. Expensive, yes, but this would offer newly minted wine lovers an insight into the personality of aged wine from a great region and a very good vintage for the same price as many newly released Napa or Bordeaux wines.

Aguachile. Haramasa, red pearl onion, radish, lime, cilantro, chive. Very bright flavored. Zesty.

Empanadas. Dry aged ground beef, greeon onion, smoked paprika, Brazilian hot vinegar. You can never go wrong with an empanada!

Seafood Tostada. Octopus, calamari, shrimp, cherry tomatoes, charred summer corn, chilies, cilantro, avocado. Like ceviche, almost.

Chad brought: 1990 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Ornellaia Vino da Tavola. VM 94. The 1990 Ornellaia foreshadows an opulent style that would become the norm in future years. A rich, dense Ornellaia, the 1990 offers exceptional balance in its expressive bouquet, ripe fruit and beautifully balanced acidity. Earthiness, licorice, smoke and menthol linger on the elegant finish. In 1990 temperatures were unusually warm toward the end of the growing season, which comes through in the wine’s generous, open personality. The 1990 Ornellaia is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc. The wine spent 15 months in French oak, 40% of which was new.

Kirk brought: 1997 Antinori Solaia Toscana IGT. VM 95. For many years, the 1997 Solaia was super-concentrated. Actually, it still is pretty intense, but over the last few years, some of the baby fat has begun to melt away, revealing a wine with tons of nuance. The 1997 clearly belongs in this flight of milestones. This is another memorable Solaia with no signs of fading.

Cucumber. Pumpkin seeds, espelette, mint, oregano, green onion, apple cider vinegar. Crunch and strong flavored, I really liked this dish.

Crispy Potato. Market wax beans, spicy mayo, herbs, chimichurri.

Bocadillo. Crispy black calamari, pickled sweet peppers, jalapeno, scallions, cilantro, gribiche. Really tasty and zesty.

Lamb chops. Olive salsa verde, arugula.

Kirk & Sandy. Click here to see Sandy in 1991!

Yarom brought: 2009 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 95. The 2009 Redigaffi bursts onto the palate with an exciting mélange of blackberries, grilled herbs, flowers, mint, rosemary and spices. It is a powerful, juicy Merlot loaded with fruit, but there is also more than enough structure to provide support. Dark notes of tar, incense and smoke add complexity on the finish. Generally I prefer Redigaffi between ages 5 and 15.

Bone marrow. Pickled serrano chili, garlic, arugula.

Oxtail Taco. Oxtail, cabbage, queso fresco, radish, avocado, hot pickled vegetables. Awesome little tacos.

Clams & Chorizo. Basil rosemary, oregano, garlic, Spanish cider, butter, charred bread.

Corn. Queso fresco, cotija, cilantro aioli, chili lime salt. Awesome, and like a slightly fancy version of what you get from a cart nearby!

From my cellar: NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 1996, 1998, 2002 (2016 Release). 96 points. deep, dense – interesting wine

Sandy brought: 2012 The Mascot. 92 points. Dusty and high in tannins. Drank over a few hours. Softened, and became more fruity over the time. Never fruit forward. Always a bit more subtle in taste. Bold dry tannin structure.

Crispy Porn Shank. Lettuce cups, hot pickled vegetables, avocado crema.

Linguisa Pinwheel. Frisee, arugula, machego, pickled shishitos, tarragon, sherry. I always love sausage.

Rotisserie chicken. French fries, sherry cilantro aioli, tomatillo salsa, charred lemon.

And more sauces.

The wine lineup. Awesome wines tonight!

Strauss soft serve ice cream. Pacific banana co sundae, buttered bananas, caramel, peanuts.

Peanut butter cookie. Peanut butter cream, powdered sugar.

Churros. Cinnamon, super fine sugar.

4 out of 6 of the gang (minus Yarom and I who are standing). Can you believe how much we ordered? And many of the dishes we got two of! The food was actually very good. Extremely bright, interesting, and brash flavors. The wines tonight were amazing too. All hitting out of the park and perfect with the big food.

Service was excellent. They do have a $35/35/50… corkage, which is good in that you can open as many bottles as you like, not quite as good as the $50 for the 3rd and more bottle is a bit steep. The atmosphere on the patio in the warm weather was fabulous.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Dama, DTLA, hedonists, Spanish Cuisine, Wine

Seconds at Somni

Jul21

Restaurant: Somni [1, 2]

Location: 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310.246.5555

Date: June 7, 2018

Cuisine: Spanish influenced Molecular Gastronomy

Rating: Awesome

I’m a bit of a Jose Andres groupie as not only have I been three times to Saam, at least 10 to The Bazaar (REVIEW HERE), but also to brunch at Trés, and even to é by José Andrés (twice) and Jaleo in Vegas and several places in Washington D.C.

For those who don’t know, José Andrés is perhaps America’s leading practitioner of my favorite culinary style: Spanish Molecular Gastronomy. This school of cooking, a radical interpretation of the preparation of food, was begun at El Bulli outside of Barcellona. Andrés cooked and studied there with master chef Ferran Adrià. I first encountered Andrés’s cooking in Washington DC at Cafe Atlantico, and its own restaurant within a restaurant, Minibar.

I’ve eaten molecular a number of times in Spain, for example at Calima and La Terraza. The Bazaar and Saam brought molecular style to LA.

Somni is the “secret” prix fixe only room within the Bazaar, which replaces the previous secret room, Saam. The new one has a format more like é by José André as it’s 10 seats and fairly theatrical. There are two seatings, and a $235 dollar a person (includes tip) tasting menu. They do allow dietary restrictions with advance notice.

Tonight was my wife and her sister’s birthday dinner.

Somni has its own waiting tables out in the lobby before we move on to Somni proper. here they brought us an intro glass of Spanish wine (included).

The former Saam space has been opened up to the Bazaar kitchen, reformatted in lovely pale wood and with a semi-circular bar. It’s much more airy.

The whole kitchen is visible behind the bar. And there is a weird empty void space behind the guests.

The kitchen now merges into the Bazaar kitchen.

Homage to Spain?

Chef de Cuisine Zabala Aitor, hailing from Catalonia and Basque. He worked at El Bulli, Arzak, Aelarre, and ABaC!

The vessels are all exquisite.

The regular menu for tonight.

And the special vegetarian (+ fish) menu — they also did a gluten free version and even printed that one out (not pictured).

Hojita. A nitro frozen cocktail of rum. Delicious and strong.

The first of the middle level of wine pairings.

Almond shell. Looks like almonds, but you pop the whole thing in the mouth and eat it — soft, nutty, and amazing.

Apple floret, cheese & beet. One of these cheese, apple, beet salads served in sponge form.

Chicken skin and foie gras. Pretending to look like corn!

The vegetarian replacement for the foie: coco curry.

Idiazabal leaf.

Pan con tomate y jamon. Classic toast with tomato pulp and jamon. The toast itself may not have actually been toast.

Caviar & Truffle. Straight up briny goodness.

The vegetarian version was avocado hand.

The next pairing wine.

Spot prawn and that’s it. Pure succulent Santa Barbara spot prawn steamed or sous vide or something. Incredibly fresh and juicy. Sucked out the head!

The veggies got churro and mother mole.

Live scallop with burrata. A lovely and delicious dish. All soft textures.

The next wine.

Croissant (potato based) with a dipping soup.

Pigtail curry bun. You dip it in the curry sauce — incredible. This was an amazing dish.

Strawberry negroni — frozen and alcohol filled intermezzo “cocktail.”

Kohlrabi and snap peas.

The actual peas were inside. Quite lovely. I like the green on green.

The first red.

Fireflies with pil-pil. This is the pil-pil, i think, a web to catch:

These baby squid. Delicious when dipped in the sauce and very interesting.

White asparagus for the veggies.

Alubias y jamon. Sort of beans and ham — but spherized.

A fried something.

Turbot with mushroom tea. It had a BBQ flavor and a texture a bit like eel — very rich and soft.

Here is the “tea.”

More red.

Japanese A5 & bone marrow.

With the bone marrow sauce.

Eggplant substitutes for the veggies.

Nori empanada.

A nice Sauternes for dessert.

“Snowflake”. Under the sugary snowflake was ice cream, macha, and some kind of nut paste?

Black forest pizzelle.

Under the soft chocolate disc was the various black forest ingredients like cherry and Bavarian cream.

Matcha doughnut. Inside was gooey matcha custard that just exploded out! Amazing.

More desserts.

Mochi.

Merienda. A little white chocolate and nut paste sandwich.

This was my wife and her sister’s birthday and so out came the little birthday men.

Overall, the food was amazing at Somni. Much more advanced and “sophisticated” than the early Saam meals which were just Bazaar+. This is much more theatrical and formal, much more in the vein of E or minibar.

Service was excellent. First rate really and very attentive. Wine service was very slick too.

But things ran very smooth and FAST. A touch slower than the first time, maybe 2 hours, but too fast still! Yeah! It should have been 3. Maybe a few more courses. They do this, I assume, so they can comfortably get two seatings in and not be working super late. But it felt a bit rushed.

Because I knew it would be fast I just ordered the wine pairings. They were nice wines and quite interesting — probably didn’t add up that great a value by retail standards, but still a very tasty way to go. They were generous with repouring them during the course.

They said the first time that they change the food fairly rapidly, and roughly 40% did change, but it’s certainly not a total turn over in 3 months.

In our party of 3 we had 3 different meal variations (normal, pescatarian, and pescatarian gluten-free) and (with advance notice) they did a phenomenal job accommodating these with not only custom dish variations but 3 separate printed menus! We were also running late and out at the beach (in shorts) and so arrived in less than perfect dress — but they were totally cool with it (we had called in advance too, but I’m sure they would have been fine either way). Two people at our set came about an hour late. I highly recommend you DON’T do this as it messes up the experience but I could see the staff trying their absolute best to get them as many of the courses they had missed as possible.

The execution was very smooth. I’m surprised this isn’t more popular as they had an open spot or two and we were able to make the reservation a few days out.

For a previous Saam meal, click here.

For a meal and The Bazaar proper, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: birthday, Dessert, José Andrés, Somni, Spanish Cuisine, The Bazaar, Wine

Back to the Bazaar 2018

Jul06

Restaurant: The Bazaar [1 , 2 , 3 , 4, 5]

Location: 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310.246.5555

Date: May 26, 2018

Cuisine: Spanish influenced Molecular Gastronomy

Rating: Awesome, one of LA’s best places.

I’m like a José Andrés groupie. I’ve been to every possible variant of his restaurants in LA, Vegas, and many in Washington. I’ve been here countless times, but today return with the Sauvages for a special Rioja lunch.No other restaurant in LA has the combination of ultra modern chic and whimsical playfulness that The Bazaar does — plus everything tastes great and you get to experience an great melange of flavors in one meal. If you haven’t been, or haven’t been recently, you should.

I’ve been plenty of times where I don’t write it up, but this time we got the current tasting menu — which is by far the best deal and the way to go here — and I figured I’d do an up to date report.

From my cellar: 2008 Clos Erasmus Priorat Laurel. VM 92. Deep ruby. Seductively perfumed, with soil-inflected aromas of cherry, dark berries, smoke, spices and dried violet, along with a strong graphite quality. Velvety and tangy on entry, then ripe and sweet in the mid-palate, lending impressive energy to the almost medicinal cherry and singed plum flavors. Lively on the bright, very long back end, which features lingering floral and mineral attributes. Very pretty now but built for short- to mid-term aging, say another four to six years.

Sweet potato chips, yogurt, tamarind, star anise. The crisp chips are used to scoop up the fluffy cool yogurt, which has a pleasing fruit tang.

Bagel and Lox Cone. The remainder of them are salmon roe with creme fraiche or cream cheese in the cone. Always a delightful little bite.

Spanish olives, traditional and modern. Classic olives with pimentos and anchovy (back). This is followed (on the right) by “Spanish olives, modern.” Pureed olive has been “sphereized.” The flavor is basically the same, but these pop in your mouth to deliver a concentrated burst of olive.

A newish take on the beet salad. Local Baby Beets. Smoked yogurt, pickled carrots, walnuts, avocado. This actually had a bit of heat (spice).

Pa’amb Tomaquet. Catalan style toasted bread, tomato. Jamon Iberico. Traditional Spanish ham.

Tuna Ceviche & Avocado Roll. Jicama, micro cilantro, coconut. Really nice bright flavors and interesting texture (soft and crunchy).

Tempura Squash Blossoms. Black olive, ricotta, fresh tomatillo sauce.

King Crab. Raspberries, raspberry vinaigrette. The crab and raspberry combo is something I haven’t come to complete terms with. Great crab though.

Not your everyday caprese, cherry tomatoes, liquid mozzarella. This is a near perfect deconstruction of the caprese. The mozzarella balls explode in your mouth, and pair great with the pesto and the little crunchy crackers.

Sautéed Shrimp. Garlic, tomato sofrito, guindilla pepper. There has been a sautéed shrimp on the menu since the start, but this newer version has more tomato. It’s great, but I probably prefer the more classic garlic/oil variant.

Grilled Spanish Octopus. Caramelized onions, chicken escabeche, cherry tomatoes.

Papas Canarias. Salty Wrinkled Potatoes, Mojo Verde and Mojo Rojo. The potatoes are very salty and you dip them in that slurry of parsley, cilantro, olive oil, and lemon juice. Really tasty. This has been on the menu since opening, but they recently changed the form favor (to have the potatoes on top of the sauce) and added the red sauce.

Croquetas De Pollo. Chicken-béchamel fritters. Classic! Super hot and gooey inside. Nice.

Seared Mary’s Farm Chicken. Honey dates, mustard caviar, mustard greens. In a way, this is like chicken with honey mustard sauce — but way better.

Catalan Spinach. Apple, pine nuts, raisins. Old dish, slightly new form factor.

I ordered this off the menu: 2011 La Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri Rioja Reserva. VM 92. Bright violet color. Ripe cherry and blackberry on the highly perfumed nose, with a sexy floral nuance adding complexity. Fleshy and seamless on the palate, offering sweet red and dark berry flavors with hints of vanilla and smoky minerals. Closes smooth, sweet and very long, with excellent clarity and spicy persistence. Very suave wine with the balance to age but also with the upfront fruit to make it quite attractive now.

Coffee Rubbed American Wagyu Flat Iron. Passion fruit, pearl onions.

Wild Mushroom Rice. Idiazabal Cheese. A very nice cheesy risotto.

The deconstructed Philly cheese steak is one of my favorites. The “air bread” is super crispy with liquid cheddar. the beef is wagyu. On the right is The vegetarians got this “Hilly cheese steak” with mushroom instead of beef. Same cheese. Last year, at a catered event at the SLS I ate over 20 of the cheesesteaks!!

Pan con Chocolate. Chocolate Flan with caramelized bread, olive oil, brioche ice cream. Great, just small.

Hot Chocolate Mousse. pear sorbet and salty hazelnut praline. Very soft texture but with crunch. Nice salty chocolate hazelnut flavor.

Traditional Spanish Flan. Vanilla and Citrus. I’m a huge flan fan and this Spanish classic didn’t disappoint. Great citrus notes.

A few cookies.

I was at the Bazaar a few weeks earlier, and we ordered ala carte. Now the food was great both times, and very different things, but the tasting menu is such a better deal. Probably half the cost and we had way more — and more varied food. The problem is that if you order some of the super yummy “per piece” items by the person, it adds up really fast and you need a lot of the little bites — whereas the tasting menu includes basically all of the above for a single fixed (roughly $100) price.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for a full swath of all my José Andrés restaurant reviews, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bazaar, José Andrés, Molecular Gastronomy, Spanish Cuisine, The Bazaar, Wine

Seminal Somni

Mar25

Restaurant: Somni

Location: 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310.246.5555

Date: March 14, 2018

Cuisine: Spanish influenced Molecular Gastronomy

Rating: Awesome

I’ve eaten molecular a number of times in Spain, for example at Calima and La Terraza. The Bazaar and Saam brought molecular style to LA.

Somni has its own waiting tables out in the lobby. But knowing that we are serious gluttons and that the many courses would be small we decided to partake of a “pre-dinner” by ordering off the Bazaar menu.

Fred brought this older Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. These mature grand cuvees are fabulous.Foie Gras Floating Island Soup. Corn espuma, corn nuts, chives. I haven’t had this exact soup before, but it is roughly based on an older Jose foie soup I had 20+ years ago at Cafe Atlantico. Very rich — lots of cream.

Oxtail Steamed Buns. watermelon radish, cilantro, serrano chili. I love the texture and breadiness of these Chinese buns combined with other more savory ingredients.

‘Rossejat’ Negra. paella-style pasta, squid ink, sepia sofrito, shrimp. Very nice version of this dark noodle based squid ink paella.

Tortilla de Patatas “New Way”. potato foam, egg 63, caramelized onions. The ingredients of the traditional tortilla (potato & egg) deconstructed and served in a very soft fashion.

“Philly Cheesesteak”. air bread, cheddar, wagyu beef. I never get enough of this dish! The crispy bread, the soft wagyu, and the succulent salty meted cheese inside!

Then we move on to Somni proper.

The former Saam space has been opened up to the Bazaar kitchen, reformatted in lovely pale wood and with a semi-circular bar. It’s much more airy.

The whole kitchen is visible behind the bar. And there is a weird empty void space behind the guests.

The kitchen now merges into the Bazaar kitchen.

Homage to Spain?

Chef de Cuisine Zabala Aitor, hailing from Catalonia and Basque. He worked at El Bulli, Arzak, Aelarre, and ABaC!

The vessels are all exquisite.

Hojita. A nitro frozen cocktail of rum. Delicious and strong.

Strong citrus notes.

Fred brought: 1990 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 97. 1990 is one of my favorite vintages ever for this storied cuvée because while the vintage was on the riper side the high yields allowed the fruit to retain a very good level of acidity which made for balanced and ageworthy wines. While I have had the pleasure of tasting the ’90 on a number of occasions since its release, the last time was alongside the 1985 and the 1988, and as admirable as those two vintages are, the 1990 is head and shoulders above them to my taste. The fantastically complex nose is comprised of an abundance of yeast and toast characters that don’t completely dominate the essence of apple, pear, citrus, spice, acacia blossom and discreet orange peel scents. There is equally good depth to the delicious, full-bodied and powerful flavors that possess a lovely sense of vibrancy thanks to the still firm but fine mousse that shapes the delineated, delicious and impeccably well-balanced finale. In my view 1990 is one of the greatest vintages for this wine of the last 25 years and one that is still drinking well. While there is no additional upside development to be hand, neither is there any rush to drink up as this should continue to hold effortlessly for years to come.

We get to see all the intricate plating.

Pan con tomate y jamon. Classic toast with tomato pulp and jamon. The toast itself may not have actually been toast.

Almond shell. Looks like almonds, but you pop the whole thing in the mouth and eat it — soft, nutty, and amazing.

Apple floret, cheese & beet. One of these cheese, apple, beet salads served in sponge form.

“Piggy” de manteca colorada. A pig shaped little crisp.

Reading the fist bumps.

Jose has long had a thing with “hands.” Not sure what it is.

Caviar & Truffle. Straight up briny goodness.

Nori empanada. I can’t remember what was inside but it was delicate and crispy.

Spot prawn and that’s it. Pure succulent Santa Barbara spot prawn steamed or sous vide or something. Incredibly fresh and juicy. Sucked out the head!

Erick brought in it’s special box.

And wrapper.

1986 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco. VM 96. The first bottling for this wine since the 1970; aged for 21 years in oak casks, followed by another six years in concrete vats. Pale gold. Pear nectar, orange zest, beeswax, fennel, vanilla and honey on the explosively perfumed, highly complex nose. Densely packed citrus and pit fruit, candied fig and chamomile flavors are sharpened by juicy acidity and a jolt of minerality. Juicy, penetrating and sappy on the extremely long, spice-laced finish, which eventually leaves behind mineral and orange pith notes.

agavin: best white Rioja I’ve ever had. So clean and complex.

Pigtail curry bun. You dip it in the curry sauce — incredible. This was an amazing dish.

Hibiscus Margarita. Another nitro frozen treat, served in the flower. Hard to eat and very alcoholic — but tasty.

Live scallop. Inside this lettuce dumpling.

Lamb, pine nut & herbs.

With some kind of sauce.

And in it’s final form. Very “leafy.”

Egg, sea urchin & truffle. An amazing combination. The egg was dried and salty and overall this was an umami bomb.

“Croissant.” With lobster and shellfish reduction. The sauce was one of those French-style “bisque”-like sauces. Great dish with the elements of a lobster pot pie basically.

Larry brought: 1970 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Ygay Reserva. 94 points. Still vibrant and dark red, surprisingly strong fruit and good acidity with a little dill on the finish. Plenty of life left in this one.

Alubias con jamon. Sort of beans and ham — but spherized.

Pekin chili crab. Vague flavors of peking duck.

From my cellar: 1980 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único. 96 points. Opened and decanted and then poured and drank over the course of maybe 2.5 hours. This is a wine that was only getting better. Prob the early part of the drinking window, but really with time in the decanter it was gaining body and interest and so it’s not going anywhere fast. It’s got that wonderful spice that I love in Unicos and hints of red fruits underneath and just a perfect wine.

Wagyu on view.

Japanese A5 & bone marrow. It comes hidden under leaves.

We pulled them off so you can see the meat — pretty neat.

Larry brought: 1959 Moulin Touchais Anjou. 95 points. Golden sweet and amazing.

“Snowflake”.

Under the sugary snowflake was ice cream, macha, and some kind of nut paste?

Vienetta. Like chocolate and vanilla custard.

Tea.

Snacks.

Merienda. A little white chocolate and nut paste sandwich.Mochi.
Matcha doughnut. Inside was gooey matcha custard that just exploded out! Amazing.
Cool decanter.

The menu.

The staff.

Service was excellent. First rate really and very attentive. Wine service was very slick too.

But things ran very smooth and FAST. Too fast as the entire meal in Somni from walking in the door to rolling out was only 1 hour and 45 minutes! Yeah! It should have been 3. Maybe a few more courses. They do this, I assume, so they can comfortably get two seatings in and not be working super late. But it felt a bit rushed.

And most crucially, particularly as we opened 6 bottles of wine (5 at dinner proper) we didn’t have enough time to finish our wine. The somm did a great job opening the wines and all that, but he was a bit slow starting them up because of the cocktail and then didn’t pour super aggressively. The net was that we didn’t finish half of it — and considering the quality level and cost of the wines we brought — really at the very top of Spanish wines — it was kinda a shame. I’m sure the staff enjoyed them later 🙂 which is certainly better than wasting them. But really he should have poured faster and warned us that there was no way we would get through so many. We probably only at 1:30 to drink 5 bottles with 4 people.

Apparently they change the food fairly rapidly, so we plan to be back soon, just with less wine or more people.

They also nominally have the annoying 2 bottle per party limit — which I hate and have ranted about before — but they let us open all our bottles with no complaints so kudos to them.

Also, this was only the 2nd or 3rd night they were open — and everything was very polished — pretty impressive.

For a previous Saam meal, click here.

For a meal and The Bazaar proper, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Foodie Club, José Andrés, Molecular Gastronomy, rioja, SLS Hotel, Somni, Spanish Cuisine, Spanish Food, Unico, Wine, ygay, Zabala Aitor

Eating Bilbao – Azurmendi

Aug05

Restaurant: Azurmendi

Location: Legina Auz., s/n, 48195 Larrabetzu, Bizkaia, Spain

Date: June 24, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Basque (Michelin 3 Star!)

Rating: My best meal in years

Our final starred restaurant of the trip is Azurmendi, located about 15-20 minutes east of Bilbao in the beautiful hills of Basque country.

Azurmendi Gourmet is the only restaurant in the Biscay province with three Michelin stars.

Azurmendi is possibly one of the most unique sustainable buildings of the modern architecture. It reflects the canons of the Basque identity and integrates photovoltaic solar panels and a geothermic system to produce electricity, harvests rainwater to cover a number of operations, recycles waste, etc. A charging station is available for electric cars. For all these reasons Azurmendi was granted the Sustainable Restaurant Award 2014.
There are resteraunts in them thar hills!

It has been built into a hillside surrounded by autochthonous vineyards. Eneko´s house, and he calls the restaurant, was conceived and built prioritizing sustainability, a foundation of his philosophy.

The architecture is subdued from the outside, fitting into the beautiful countryside.

But inside is stunning and dramatic.

Mixing the natural and the sculptural.

Plus cool fountains!

The formal menus today.

But first, we enter in “The Azurmendi Experience” which includes a series of amuses presented in different locations. Here some of the chefs begin with…

The welcoming picnic.

Garden vegetables cake (upper right), eel sandwich (left) and Txakoli punch (green ball in the foreground). Everything had a smooth, rich, harmony to the taste.

For act 2 we proceed into the kitchen.

Here we are presented with a hibiscus “potion” and

Hazelnuts growing on a little bonsai tree — except surprise, they were chocolate hazelnut.

And the vegetarians received this vegetable crisp with avocado mousse.

The third act takes us to the lovely greenhouse.

Quite magical.

The dry ice mist chills some of the amuses.
T

Morokil. A porridge of corn flower, formed into a sort of corn soup in this case.

Herbs, cookies, and cheese. Growing amongst the herbs.

A close up of the actual treat.

Our son received a bit of floral/vegetable “pasta.”

The in the cotton fields there was…

Asparagus cotton. Cotton candy like texture.

And growing from the rocks…

Mushroom leaf. A salty potato chip like thing that tasted of mushroom.

Finally the fourth act takes us to the dining room and our table.

The place setting.

There was a choice of two menus, we chose the Adarrak menu on the right.

And it begins with yet more amuses, frozen olive and vermouth. The yellow things tasted of olive, with a frozen ice cream bon bon texture. The little dark sticks were edible as well.

A cocktail of juice and vermouth.

Egg from our hens, cooked inside out and truffled. This gooey soft blob (eat in one bite) tasted of egg yolk and truffles — which meant it was scrumptious.

Chinese bun-like bread.

2003 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Reserva Viña Tondonia. Couldn’t resist more Tondonia blanco.

Simple pasta for our son.

Oysters, tartar, and seaweed traces. Very much in the Azurmendi style, with the different bits of sauce and the sphere.

Vegetarians received this mini squash blossom and a beet tartar.

And we had this tempura ball.

Tomatoes… local varieties and anchovy. Even I, the tomato hater, loved this. So fresh tasting.

And tomato water granite!

Garlic mushrooms. A noodle spun about and with all sorts of earthy mushroom and garlic flavors.

The vegetarians received this alternate version.

Roasted lobster out of the shell, its crunch and mayonnaise. The lobster was prefect.

And “its crunch” was like a lobster infused crispy fruit rollup.

Vegetarians received this dish of artisanal grains.

2013 Castell d’Encús Costers del Segre Acusp. 89 points. As there wasn’t the kind of Burgundy I wanted on the list, and I like to stay Spanish, the Sommelier recommended this lovely young Spanish pinot noir.

“Castanetas” pork glazed in its juice with “Etxano” cheese. Some delicious meatiness, a sweetish sauce, and nice crisp from the cheese.

Cod tripe to the fine herbs. Second or third time I had the cod tripes. Sounds gross, but the dish was amazing. Creamy, with this thick gelatinous texture. Wonderful rich flavors.

Fried Hake, roasted red pepper infusion and parsley. The green blobs aren’t avocado, but parsley mousse or something. This was a perfect tempura fish, wonderfully moist inside and crispy outside. The red pepper “sauce” (almost a gel) was amazing, with a dashi-type flavor too.

Pigeon, green beans, and duxelle. A great bit of bird.

And a bit of foie gras and sherry PX!

A dish of fava beans and herb mousse.

Chef Eneko Atxa.

Born in 1977 and raised in the Basque Country of Spain, Eneko Atxa hails from a family that always placed value in good food and good eating. At the age of 15, he embarked on his career as a chef at the Catering College of Leoia in the province of Biscay. After graduation, he honed his skills in fine dining and began his journey into haute cuisine as a cook under Chef Martín Berasategui at his eponymous restaurant in Lasarte. He then continued on with greater responsibility at locally revered restaurants Etxebarri and Andra Mari. As these early years of his career passed, he began to develop his culinary personality and style, driven by deep curiosity and passion.

In 2005, Atxa’s path led him to open his own restaurant, Azurmendi, in a tucked-away spot of dense woods just 10 minutes outside of Bilbao. Since then, the chef has garnered a number of awards, including “Best Chef” by local, national, and international bodies, including the Fourchettes French gourmet guide, along with the “Most Beautiful Dish” by Lo Mejor de la Gastronomía in 2010. Just five years after opening, Azurmendi was awarded its second Michelin star in November 2010, becoming the first restaurant in the Biscay province with two Michelin stars — then finally 3!

Watermelon, coriander, and lime. Amazing dessert with its various chilled textures. Bright and refreshing.

Yogurt, honey, and five spices. Another lovely dessert.

Chocolate, peanut, and licorice.

And our son’s slightly “simplified” chocolate dessert.

Tea/coffee service.

Macchiato.

The petits fours come in a box of dirt.
Various infused flavors, gel, madeline-like pastry.

This gel and white chocolate green tea popsicle.

Ginger gels. Super refreshing and potent.

Macarons.

The menu.
And the bill box.

Azurmendi was a stunning meal. Everyone present agreed it was their favorite of the trip — and I place it as one of my favorites in the last decade. The location was lovely, the theatrics clever, each dish artful, but most importantly, they all tasted fantastic. The overall balance of flavors, temperature, and textures was uniformly good. Not every dish was as great as the last, but they varied from merely very good to revelatory. And even thought he combinations were often unusual, they meshed together in a delectable manner.

Really, there is a reason Elite Traveller has distinguished Azurmendi as the second best restaurant in the world this year (2016), and Opinionated About Dining as the best restaurant in Europe in 2015. This is current haute cuisine executing on all 12 cylinders, hand tuned by Enzo Ferrari himself — and it shows off the bounty, beauty, and creativity that is defining Basque Country as one of the world’s best culinary destinations.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Azurmendi, Basque cuisine, bilbao, eating-spain, Michelin 3 Star, Michelin Guide, Spanish Cuisine

Eating San Sebastian – Fuego Negro

Aug03

Restaurant: Fuego Negro

Location: Calle 31 de Agosto, 31, 20003 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 23, 2016

Cuisine: Tapas

Rating: Good, but didn’t try enough

Fuego Negro was another very highly rated tapas bar.

The name means “black smoke”.

But as they were only open for dinner, and we couldn’t actually get a table for 8 to house our giant party, we just popped in and sampled a couple items.

The menu.

Home made pickles. Olives, anchovies, peppers. I just love these fresh marinated gems.

Makcobe with txips. A kobe beef slider with pickles. A good little burger to be sure. About the size I like my burgers, actually.
Crunchy risotto of sheep & cuttlefish. Not sure what the sheep part was, maybe cheese. The cuttlefish is the pasta like stuff on top. The rice had a crunchy texture not too far off from cocoa crispies! Overall yummy though.

We didn’t try enough items at Fuego Negro to get a solid opinion, although clearly this is a good and inventive kitchen. The menu is fairly small too and I like how they list the dates for the dishes.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: eating-spain, Fuego Negro, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Tapas

Eating Basque – Local Fare

Jul29

In the mountains of Basque Country, a mere 15-20 minutes from the sophisticated tapas of San Sebastian you get these simple cheap restaurants that serve up correspondingly simple — but pretty tasty fare.

This post is actually a composite of 2-3 places which I’ve put together to show the typical (hearty) dishes.

Basic bread.

Often you get some salami on the table. This one was tasty, and certainly tasted of the pig. A little spice in it too.

I bought this bottle of Rioja off the list for E10! It wasn’t bad either.

Croquetas. These are the Jamon filled variety. A croquette is a small breadcrumbed fried food roll containing, usually as main ingredients, mashed potatoes and Jamon, maybe cheese, and mixed with béchamel. Even bad ones are pretty tasty. Good ones are great.

Queso. Some kind of semi curado probably.

Garlic prawns. Grilled prawns crusted in garlic olive oil. With a surprisingly “fancy” sauce presentation. These were great, and for a mountain town? Pretty surprising.

Fish soup. This hearty soup of shellfish shells and whatnot is delicious. It’s very similar (if not the same) to the similar soup in Southern France — and given that I found this one in Spain all of about 10km from the French border, I don’t find that exactly surprising.

NOTE: it was also served at about 212 degrees and that heavy ceramic bowl holds the fiery heat for what seemed like forever.

Salad. E8-10 euros buys you this monster of a salad with egg, white asparagus, potatoes, olives and tuna.

Or the fried whole goat cheese salad!

Omelet. Looks pretty much like in the states.

Steak frites. Pretty simple, also with padron peppers. Cheap though.
Fries. The Spanish love their patatas.

Some pan fried chicken breasts and fries. surprisingly tasty.

Chicken sandwich. Same deal on a giant roll for all of about E8.

Chorizo and fries. No grease here (just kidding), but lots of salty flavor!

Chorizo plate. Many places offer combo plates like this E8 beast: fries, chorizo, eggs, and even croquetas.

Lomo plate. Same deal, but with pork loin instead of ground spiced pig.
Vegetarian sandwich. About 20″ long!

The stuff at these places isn’t fancy or terribly varied, but it is hearty, tasty, and a good deal.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chorizo, eating-spain, Egg, fries, jamon, Spanish Cuisine

Eating San Sebastian – Borda Berri

Jul27

Restaurant: Bar Borda Berri

Location: Fermin Calbeton Kalea, 12, 20003 Donostia, Bizkaia, Spain

Date: June 23, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Tapas

Rating: Awesome New Wave Tapas

Borda Berri was one of the many tapas bars recommended by my foodie friends.

It’s located on a typical San Sebastian old town street.
The interior is tiny, with no seating. Outside there is a small table or two. While many pintxos bars have the food out on the counter waiting to be selected, Borda Berri makes you thrust in and order food in the same manner as you order drinks (and to the same people). They cook and plate back in the kitchen and call out when each dish is ready. I then dutifully returned to the bar to ferry them to our microscopic table.

The menu in Spanish and English.

Sangria.

Rosado wine.

At most there were two tables in the alley. Standing room only.

Gazpacho with watermelon, basilic and mozzarella. This was a stupendously delicious gazpacho. It’s hard to imagine it didn’t have tomato in it also, but there was a strong watermelon and basil flavor, along with the rich olive oil and the snappy vinegar. I so love good gazpacho. Too bad it gives me heartburn.

Toasted goat cheese salad. A lovely salad with a bit of sweetness on the cheese.

Bomba rice with wild mushroom. This was a nice mushroom rice, with that more paella-like texture. Probably one of the more boring dishes we had, but that’s not really fair in this company.

Cod Tripes and Pil-Pil sauce. Sounds gross right? Well the texture was solidly gelatinous, and probably not for everyone, but boy did it taste good. I ate almost two plates of it. Very rich.

Puntalette’s risotto with Idiazabal (Basque Sheeps Cheese). Wow, fabulous cheesy risotto. Everything you would want in a cheesy mass of rice.

Ravioli squid in its ink. Very tender, with briny sweet flavors. Yum!

Euskal Pork Ribs “Kebab.” This “Kebab” turned out to be basically a amazingly tender and flavorful BBQ babyback rib with a bit of sauce. Fabulous.

Borda Berri cooked up some really fabulous flavors. Additionally, freed from the confines of the pintxos format they serve fresher hot dishes in more of a small plates format. This is a little different, and perhaps a bit harder to just graze, but it provides for a more restaurant-like cuisine, even if the format is extremely bar-like.

Almost everything we had here was great, and fairly novel too. Just looking at these pictures makes me drool over the gazpacho, risotto, and lamb — and I could even mack down another plate of the cod tripes.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Bar Borda Berri, Borda Berri, eating-spain, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Tapas

Eating San Sebastian – Mugaritz

Jul22

Restaurant: Mugaritz

Location: Aldura Aldea, 20, 20100 Errenteria, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 22, 2016

Cuisine: Molecular Spanish (Michelin 2 Star)

Rating: Form over Function or Concept over Taste

Mugaritz is considered by many to be the most “adventurous” and modern restaurant in the world gastronomic scene. The effective “heir to elBulli.” Recently it placed #7 in a notable best restaurants in the world. It is helmed by Andoni Luis Aduriz, who cooked at elBulli. Like Ferran Adria the staff spends several months of the year experimenting.

The farmhouse-like location is situated in the countryside above San Sebastian proper.

Metallic animalistic sculptures grace the grounds and patio.

Cave to start.

The menu, regular on the left and vegetarian on the right.

Our first few courses (and the cave) were enjoyed outside on the patio.

Toasted mollete, anchovy emulsion. A kind of fennel bun with an anchovy flavored butter. Nice soft textures to the roll.

“My guts are growling.” Tripe with a cheese spread. I’m not a tripe fan, but these were sort of like crispy waffles with cheese. Only the fact that I knew it was tripe detracted.

Ceviche over a frozen turf. I didn’t taste any of these vegetarian dishes but it sure looks like a patch of sod!

Live cannellone. Sprouted chia seed with lobster ceviche. This tasted like a lobster roll mixed with a 1970s health food tuna sandwich (the kind with avocado and lots of sprouts). For some reason chia seeds are really popular in Spain right now.

Carrots wrapped in a baked veil. Looks like sushi.

Live pasta and anchovies, in vinegar. This was basically a boquerone wrapped in thin pasta. It was rather delicious actually.

After this we moved into…

The kitchen. Got to meet some of the chefs, and were informed that about 50-70 people work in the kitchen. Wow!

Our kitchen snack was:

Chicken chicharon. Basically a nice crunchy bit of chicken skin.

A photo of the gang.

Now seated at the table we tried:

2012 Albamar Rías Baixas Alma de Mar. 90 points. A nice crisp white.

Lemon oyster. No dish exemplified the problems with concept over cuisine more than this dish. Basically, it was some kind of pickled lemon stuffed with an oyster. At a technical level, getting the oyster in there was cool, but the lemon tasted like Mustarda — probably because it was a pickled fruit. Maybe there was even mustard oil. It’s an odd flavor, and not for everyone. Sour, vinegary, with a sharp almost chemical like tone. Then the oyster just added fishy/briny. Really not actually a pleasant flavor at all. Presentation, however, was great.

Artisanal sweet strip.

Clams glazed with lemon. This riffed on the mollusk and lemon again, but more successfully. Still, it was clam with lemon curds.

Chilled radishes.
Cooked Mother rice and…

Caviar. Actually a pretty successful combination. The rice had a very thick jelly/mochi texture.

Vegetarian Caviar. Probably actually a vegetable formed with alginate into small spheres.

Garlic inflorescence. A straight fibrous strand of garlic. Tasty but…

Made you feel like an herbivore!

Chilled radishes and mollusk milk. Like a clam/radish gazpacho. Bracing, with cool sharp flavors.

Fried trout. Although really more a fried anchovy. A very nice fried fish. Actually as good a small fried fish as I’ve had.

Tear-drop pea cloud. A dough not unlike a Chinese bun dough wrapped around what seemed to be salmon caviar. Mellow and subtle sweetness, a bit of brine. I enjoyed it.

Vegetarian ravioli.

Filled asparagus.

Red mullet in colora. Red mullet on a pork skin/fat crisp with what seemed to be chorizo oil melted over it. Interesting textural interplay of crunch, fish, and oil. The fish was excellently cooked, and not “fishy”, and the chorizo flavor was pretty dominant.

“Soup” with roasted vegetables. Corn meal and garlic that had to be mashed up.

With this.

Then bread was thrown into the “pot.”

And this gelatinous cube herbs and vegetables. Looks awesome.

The whole thing was mashed into a “soup.” Not exactly a soup, but an interesting smash-up.

2013 Ossian. 90 points. Same grape as Rioja blanco. Very very interesting aromatic wine.

Jerusalem artichoke seasoned with charcoal grill. looks pretty hideous, huh? Outside tasted of pure charcoal.

Inside was highly delectable. Very starchy, soft, almost like a risotto, with a bit of tomato/garlic flavors maybe.

Grilled cabbage marrows. Very soft, and also wrapped around by that char. Marrow chunks added some richness. Pretty tasty.

Grilled cabbage.

Lacquered sole and butter. Sole with edible bones and a butter “paste”. An excellent bit of fish. Rich and perfectly cooked. The crunchy bones were the best part, and fairly novel.

Ail glace. The paper was used here to squeeze the garlic juice onto the toast to make garlic bread.

Lis stew. Don’t know how this was a stew, or if the menu was wrong. It was yellow tomato and marcona almonds and some flowers.

Sweetbread and garlic. I’m not a big sweetbread fan, but again this dish worked. It was hard to tell the garlic gloves from sweetbreads, which was fine by me.

Vegetal bestiary.

A thousand leaves. Swiss chard carefully stacked. Basically a mille-feuille made from chard, served with a bit of grano and a meat reduction. The sauce and cheese were great, but the vegetable was a bitter green. The textures of all those folded layers was interesting, but that was about it.

Glazed lamb over salted leaves. This was a very tasty dish. A sort of high end lamb “lettuce wrap.” Sweet and miso-like.

Eggplant and miso. The vegetarians said this was great.

2006 Costers del Siurana Priorat Clos de L’Obac. VM 92+. Vivid ruby. Deep, smoky cherry and blueberry on the nose, with notes of black cardamom and gunpowder tea adding seriousness. Chewy in texture, with real punch to its dark fruit flavors. Becomes more floral with air, finishing with solid tannins and notes of candied rose and violet. If the Miserere deserves cellar time, this demands it.

Glazed shortbread. A meaty glaze on top of shortbread. The base was very dry and pasty. Combination was okay but the texture didn’t work well. Way too dry.

Yolks and artichokes.

The cheese. A fine cheese, probably a goat.

From bitter to sweet. This was an interesting combination of sweet and “savory” flavors. It was pretty good actually, if unusual.

Kombucha mother and strawberries. These were great. Basically odd textured strawberries and cream. Too bad they were so small (we each got one).

Drunken apricot and a fresh-cut julienne. Apricots and herbs. Almost ancient Roman in vibe, but successful.

Toasted soup of oxidized wine. Shaped like the Michelin man praying for a third star.

Sadly, he didn’t taste very good. Actually the marshmallow was fine, but it was coated in some very dry, very oxidized Madeira — I like my hyper oxidized wines sweet.

The room was constructed out of local pine.

Petit fours. The seven deadly sins. This tablewide tower came in multiple puzzle box segments.
Greed.

Envy (only 1 for the table!).

Wrath. Spicy!

Gluttony. You had to eat it with your fingers. Corn chips with white chocolate sauce.
Pride.

Lust. Funny jellies.

Sloth. White chocolate lemon balls if I remember right.

Let’s break it down.

Location and setting were lovely. Service was extremely nice at Mugaritz, but not as attentive as it could be. On at least one occasion I had to go get the wine and pour it around. Now this isn’t a serious fault, but at this level (2 star and gunning for 3) I shouldn’t have to think about the wine. Wine recommendations were excellent though, even though they were out of 2 things I wanted (older Rioja, blanco and tinto).

But how was the food? As you can see, it looks really interesting. Modern, yet not ultra “molecular” in appearance. Ingredients per dish are extremely few. Each course is conceptual and laser focused. Cooking is extraordinarily precise. All fine. The problem problem is that the concepts seemed to outweigh the experience on the pallet. Concept over cuisine. Many dishes just didn’t taste that good and only a few tasted great. They were memorable for their form and appearance only. An example of this would be the mille-feuille swiss chard. Cool concept. But in practice it was a bitter vegetable with an interesting texture, covered with a nice reduction and a bit of cheese. This should have been caught at the test stage and rejected for not being yummy enough. And there lies the crux. To me, given this single meal, it seems that Andoni Luis Aduriz prioritizes focus and creative concept above taste. Either that or he has a radically different pallet than the rest of us at the table. Dishes were very fresh, seasonal, and tasted intensely of their source ingredients, but the combinations were odd and some of those sources needed modulating.

So overall, intellectually very interesting but not actually that tasty.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Andoni Luis Aduriz, eating-spain, Michelin 1 Star, Michelin Guide, Molecular Cooking, Molecular Gastronomy, Mugaritz, Spanish Cuisine

Eating San Sebastian – Abakando

Jul20

Restaurant: Abakando

Location: Tolosa Hiribidea, 37, 20018 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 21, 2016

Cuisine: Spanish

Rating: Nice seafood

Another evening, another San Sebastian restaurant.

Again follow a friend’s recommendation we headed to Abakando. This was the only non starred “white tablecloth” restaurant we ate at in town.

The interior is very modern.

Menu.

After visiting Rioja I’ve been discovering the pleasures of Rioja Blanco.

Homemade croquettes txangurro. Stuffed with crab and some of the usual béchamel.

Tomato salad country, tuna and romescu.

Seafood soup with clams, cockles and shrimp. That rich local soup again.

Seasonal mushroom ravioli, prawn and Idiazabal cheese sauce. Really nice and cheesy.

Mushroom risotto seasonal. We were given the impression by the waitress that these were tiny portions and ordered two each. They were huge and stuffed us.

Black rice with aioli begi-haundi. This one was great, with a nice sweet brine.

Hake and fries.

Hake in green sauce with Galician marine clam. This is a very traditional dish, wand was quite lovely — too bad were were all so full.

DO Castilla Suckling lamb baked at low temperature. Not the most attractive meat, but tasty.

Overall, Abakando was tasty, but it filled a strange middle ground. It wasn’t as amazing and inventive as the starred places, nor as fun and casual as the tapas/pintxos bars. Plus, we drastically over ordered and were really stuffed.

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By: agavin
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Eating Rioja – Terete

Jul15

Restaurant: Terete

Location: Calle Lucrecia Arana, 17, 26200 Haro, La Rioja, Spain

Date: June 21, 2016

Cuisine: Spanish

Rating: Great traditional lamb

We drove up to Rioja for a day to tour some of the wineries (of course), namely López de Heredia and CVNE, and happened to ask the marketing director at López for a lunch recommendation.

She sent us to Terete for the roast lamb.

The menu.

They have one of those wood fired ovens like at Botin.

And the place is huge!

Of course, having just come from López I had to order some of their wine.

2002 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Reserva Viña Tondonia. 93 points. First whiff is of honey, candlewax, bruised apples.
On the palate, apples, honey, chamomile tea, and that amazing thick, waxy texture that is just to die for. Finish is loooong, with a mouthwatering acidity that makes the oxidized notes be in balance. Really a lovely wine.

The bread.

A typical Spanish salad, with eggs, asparagus and the like.

Marinated red peppers.

Tortilla Espanola.

White asparagus. Big fellows.

Greens.

What we came for, the roast lamb. I’m not sure there were any other ingredients. Maybe some salt. Basically lamb slow roasted in its own juices. But this was same damn fine lamb, cooked up the way its been cooked for thousands of years! Super tender and moist and full of flavor.

Whiskey cake.

You got to pout this on.

Cafe bonbon. Expresso and chocolate and sweetened condensed milk.

Overall this was a fun little lunch. The lamb was spectacular and that’s what we came for.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: eating-spain, haro, lamb, rioja, Spanish Cuisine, Terete

Eating San Sebastian – Atari

Jul13

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.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Atari, eating-spain, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Tapas

Eating San Sebastian – Zuberoa

Jul11

Restaurant: Zuberoa

Location: Araneder Bidea, Barrio Iturriotz, s/n, 20180 Oiartzun, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 18, 2016

Cuisine: Basque

Rating: Really tasty and effective (1 Michelin star)

We rented a lovely house outside of San Sebastian in the Basque Country town of Oiartzun — and turns out, it has a 1 Michelin star restaurant of its own, a mere 200 yards from the house.

Zuberoa is located in a charming 600 year old building! The same family has owned it for several hundred years and it was originally a tavern.

Above is part of the main dining room.

And they also have this lovely patio, which was packed on Saturday night and a smoker’s paradise.

The tasting menu.

Cava to start.

An amuse of foie gras with cherry reduction.

This was insanely good. The dollop on top was like a maple syrup foam and together with the cherry lent it a sweet, rich, candy-like quality.

Sea urchin royal to the fennel flavor. A sort of foam of fennel and urchin. Delicious too.

Lobster salad, its coral vinegar and lemon. Just a little lobster here. “Coral” must be the roe.

2006 Pazo de Señoráns Albariño Rías Baixas Selección de Añada. VM 93. Aged for 34 months on its lees in stainless steel tanks. Vivid yellow-gold. Highly complex bouquet of candied citrus fruits, almond paste, white flowers, smoky lees and minerals. Bitter orange pith and pear skin flavors gain sweetness with air and pick up an exotic floral nuance. Rich yet lively wine with superb finishing power and mineral-driven persistence. This singular wine is ready to drink and should hold well for at least another five years.

Poached cod fish to the olive oil with brandad, its skin sauce and its jelly´s crispy.

Spider crab and prawns ravioli in his broth. An awesome little rav.

Scallop, cauliflower and spring mushrooms (zizas) emulsion with brazed endive.

Confited cod fish chin, brandad and “Vizcaina” sauce. This part of the cod fish is super special and a specialty of the area. It has a particular gelatinous texture that is very prized. My extensive Chinese dining has prepared me for such culinary travels.

Egg yolk spring-like. A really delicious egg prep with a fascinating textural combination. The green was somewhat like a pea soup.

Roasted anglerfish and stir friend squid tallarine. Very nice piece of meaty fish. We googled the anglerfish and had quite the laugh at his hideous countenance.

Steamed hake with its pil-pil and pickled yellow peppers.

1981 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Viña Real Gran Reserva. JG 96. This was certainly a great older Rioja. No decant but allowed it to evolve over hours. Garnet color consistent with previous, very little fading. There is an earthiness and attractive mustiness on the nose with surprisingly bright raspberry and strawberry. Palate brings light cherry and raspberry, warm spring earth, and pleasing umami flavors. Still enough of a tannic backbone to lend sufficient structure to the melange. This bottle would have still had many years of life ahead of it. If only every bottle performed this well.

Fried hake and French fries was enjoyed by my son.

Roast pigeon, liver toast and turnip filled up with mushrooms.

Roasted lamb ribs. Some very flavorful tender lamb ribs. Almost like lamb/veal.

Peach and passion fruit “ crème brûlée “ with raspberry ice-cream.

Pineapple sorbet coat in fermented coconut milk..
Confited cherries, lemon thyme flavored with its own sorbet and Danish cookie. Pretty awesome fresh in-season cherry prep.

Chocolate, coffee, and banana set and orange nappage.

Alex enjoys his chocolate gelato!

Some finishers.

Overall, Zuberoa was really quite lovely. The food was varied, very Basque in style, and supremely tasty. While still modern in style it was a little less “wild” than the 2 and 3 star places we dined at, but in many ways this made it more approachable. Service was fabulous and they easily accommodated our varied party and even our young son. Plus it was quite reasonable by the standards of such an elaborate and fantastic meal.

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Basque cuisine, eating-spain, Michelin 1 Star, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Zuberoa

Eating San Sebastian – Akelaŕe

Jul06

Restaurant: Akelaŕe

Location: Paseo Padre Orcolaga, 56, 20008 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 16, 2016

Cuisine: Modern Spanish Gastronomic (Michelin 3 star!)

Rating: Amazing. Playful and delicious

Akelaŕe is the first of the “big guns” in our dining schedule.

3 Michelin stars and helmed by Pedro Subijana, this is a world class dining establishment in every respect.

The view alone is a stunner, perched on the cliff tops of the amazingly beautiful Basque countryside about 15 minutes west of San Sebastian.

No drama here.

The dining room floats above the Atlantic.

The view from our table most decidedly set expectations.

Akelaŕe currently offers three different tasting menus, two current and one more of a “best of” from the restaurant’s long history (it’s the same age as me, having been founded in 1970 and climbed from 1 star in ’78 to 2 in ’82 to 3 in ’07).

Cava to start — always!

This “dish” served as an amuse for our 7 year-old son. It wins hands down for presentation. Sort of “bathroom” themed it consists of a number of playful items. A toast in which the “liquid soap” is used as a condiment. A cheese dish disguised as face cream, and a Shirley Temple in a cough syrup bottle! Great fun.

A tomato amuse. Even I, tomato hater that I am, enjoyed it.

A sort of ravioli, or unusual skin of food with one of those “caviar” not made from fish eggs. A kind of ajo blanco underneath. I remember it being delicious.

Reconstructed olives. These looked like olives, and somewhat tasted of them, but were reconstructed out of olive paste mixed with something else. They were delicious.
Fried zucchini “chips”.

Mussel fritters. Like a fried mussel, but in croquette-like ball form.

Bread, of course.

2012 Tricó Rías Baixas. 89 points. Light golden color; floral notes and lemon zest on the nose. Lively and fresh on the palate. Good acidity. Medium light body. This is pleasant to drink, very crisp and food friendly wine.

Cubed tear green Peas. The center batch is in an edible “plastic” bag.

Then a pea soup is added.

Lobster salad with Cider Vinegar. No shortage of lobster here! Particularly considering this is just 1 course in a big tasting menu.

White asparagus meringue. Smores anyone?

Pasta, Piquillo and Iberico Carpaccio, Mushrooms and Parmesan. This alternate version of the classic Italian carpaccio has the “meat” replaced with a pasta. It did look and taste pretty meaty, but pasta like at the same time.

Prawns cooked in “Orujo” Fire. Not quite sure what the fire part was, but this was a delicious prawn.

And in a very Japanese style, it also came with the fried head. Bugs of the sea!

This bread took on an “interesting” shape.

Hake in Seaweed steam. Plancton and Oyster Leaf.

Very thin and Light Beef Tartare and…

new Potato Soufflé and Aromatic Herb Bread.

The leaves and the Foie under the rain.

Okay the name was a little confusing. It had “salt and pepper” on top — except it wasn’t salt and pepper but I think a sugar and and some kind of chocolate maybe? Hard to say, but it was delicious and a huge chunk of foie.

2013 Ossian. 90 points. An unusual heavier Spanish white.

Rice with Snails and Periwinkles in Tomato and Basil film. Sounds funny, but was delicious. Tasted like some kind of Chinese fried race, maybe a snail sausage fried rice!

Whole-Grain Red Mullet with Sauce “Fusili”.

One of the fusili, which was some kind of corkscrew of sugar? filled with a broth. Interesting. Wasn’t oily or fishy like many red mullet preps too.

I’m not sure what this dish was. May have been mushroom.

“Desalted” Cod Box with Shavings. It just comes in the box.

It was plated like this and basically like a nice piece of cod.

Sea Bass “UMAMI”.

The “Umami” was this separate grouping of stuff that you could put on the seabass to add, you guessed it, umami. I think it was made of anchovies and other bits like that.

2006 Bodegas Muga Rioja Gran Reserva Prado Enea. VM 92. raised in large oak vats for a year, followed by three years in small, used American oak barrels): Dark ruby. Highly fragrant scents of redcurrant, dried cherry, pipe tobacco, leather and rose oil. Lively and precise on the palate, offering deeply pitched red fruit and floral pastille flavors and a hint
of black pepper. The youthfully tight finish features excellent clarity and lingering spiciness.

Roasted Pigeon with a Touch of Mole and Cocoa. The thing on the left was a kind of cookie with spiced pigeon meat inside — delicious.
Closer picture because this pigeon was SO GOOD. Just amazing. Tender rare meat, and an awesome rich mole sauce.

Carved Beef, Tail Cake “Potatoes and Peppers”.

The Tail Cake in focus. Like a meat tiramisu.

Some dessert amuses.

Melting Cupcake. Like a semi-fredo.

Xaxu and Foaming Coconut Ice Cream. The styrofoam looking stuff tasted like coconut gelato.

Gin & Tonic on a plate.

The Broken Jar of Yogurt, “Gatzatua” and Berries. This won the cool look award for the night. Everything was edible! It was made of yogurt too.

The different Apple Tart. I don’t know what the “plastic” was made of, but it was edible (and good).

The inside was basically a perfect crunchy apple tart like pastry. Really quite awesome.

Some various petite fours.

This was an amazing meal. The style at Akelaŕe seems to be playful reinterpretations of classic French/Spanish/Italian dishes. It uses modernist techniques, but not so heavily as to distort the dish into unfoodlike forms. And most importantly, the dishes retain solid flavor profiles with balance. They don’t always taste exactly like you’d expect, but they taste good and in the “frequency range” of whatever dish roll they serve in the meal. I.e. a savory, while perhaps having sweet notes, still tastes like a savory. As general rule the dishes are also complex, involving multiple ingredients working in harmony, but the chef has a fabulous sense of pairing and I don’t remember anything with a jarring or off-putting combinations as is sometimes a problem in extreme modernism.

Setting, as you can see, was magnificent, as was service. Not only were they extremely attentive, but they easily dealt with several different dietary rule sets, including our young son.

Certainly a worthy three star experience. Akelaŕe is crafting cutting edge food that sings on the palate.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Akelare, Akelarre, eating-spain, Michelin 3 Star, Michelin Guide, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine

Eating San Sebastian – Baztán

Jul04

Restaurant: Baztán

Location: Portu Kalea, 8, 20003 San Sebastián-Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Date: June 16, 2016

Cuisine: Pintxos

Rating: “Straight up” Basque Tapas

I’m choosing to use Baztán as a sort of light introduction to San Sebastian tapas — in part because of its normality.

San Seb is packed with Pintxos bars. Dozens upon dozens of them and they vary wildly in style, quality, and crowds. Baztán is a pretty typical type.

First of all, the offerings are dominated by straight up pintxos (stuff on pieces of bread). These, for the most part, sit on the counter. You grab a plate (or 2) and load up as many as you like, then hand it to a bar keep along with your drink order. If something needs heating he’ll do that. Most things here don’t and usually they are eaten pretty much as they sit on the bar. Let’s look at some examples.

Salmon and cream, salmon and anchovies, tortilla espanola, fried fish, seafood salad and anchoives, egg, peppers & anchovies, etc.

Peppers and olives, seafood salad, octopus, cheesy scallop, ham & goat cheese, fried thingy, chorizo, egg, and pepper.

More salmon, mushrooms & eggs, gazpacho, peppers, etc.

More fried stuff, black pudding!

Sangria.

Flan. Quite a nice one actually.

And lots of pictures of the bar.

More.

And even more.

There are some funny things on bread, like stacked meat balls, a couple sausages and even skewered French fries pinioned to the toasts! See the chorizo and fries on the right!

Here are the meatballs. Some shrimp, steak tartar etc.

The desserts.
Straight pintxos like this is a funny cuisine. First of all, if the bar is crowded at all it’s sort of a nightmare: Nowhere to eat, very hard if you have a large party. 1-2 people, no problem, you just grab some stuff when you order your drink. 8, that can be a challenge! There is also no particular rhyme or reason to the distribution of plates (sometimes they are at the bar, sometimes you ask the bartender) or a mechanism for getting his attention so you can pay, order, etc. I found it much like a crowded club bar.

Then there is the pintxos themselves. They certainly taste very good, and you can pick what you want to try by looks and in small increments, but I soon tired of all those slices of thick French bread. I’m not the sort to eat 10-15 slices of bread! So I ate about 2 and then resorted to eating the toppings off. Felt kinda like eating the fish off the rice at all-you-can-eat sushi.

Still, this was a fun and tasty experience, and a good intro as we delve later into more exotic tapas/pintxos formats.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Baztán, eating-spain, pintxos, San Sebastian, Spanish Cuisine, Tapas

Eating Barcelona – Catalana

Jun29

Restaurant: Cerveseria Catalana

Location: Carrer de Mallorca, 236, 08008 Barcelona

Date: June 14, 2016

Cuisine: Catalonian Tapas

Rating: Excellente!

Not only was this place recommended on Chowhound, but my parents independently “blundered” into it and loved it.

So I had to go back and try it with them.

Very “typical” super upscale Barcelona Tapas bar scene with a gorgeous wood interior.

And lots of sit at the counter space.

The layout of “white” salad (consisting of stuff in mayo).

A lot of the tapas are out in a halfway prepped form.

And more.

And seafood.

And veggies.

And pinchos (stuff on bread) like these croqueta.

On anchovies and peppers.

Or walnut cheese spread and pineapple.

Or these amazing salmon and cream cheese.

And of course, Jamon.

Or Jamon with other stuff, like peppers.

Mushrooms can be selected and cooked up together.

More types, including mushrooms with Jamon (capitalized because in Spain, Jamon is a proper noun).

Boquerones en vinagre. One of my favorite traditional tapas. Super fresh here with that nice tang.

Crab salad on toast. Like an upscale spanish version of a Subway “seafood salad” sandwich.
Salmon and cream cheese or cream fraiche. Awesome.
Jamon.
Tomato bread.

Steamed shrimp. Super fresh and tasty with that bright briny flavor.

Sautéed mushrooms. Colon sweeper! Yummy with garlic and olive oil.

Asparagus with sea salt.

Duck cannelloni. This is the raw form. They cooked it up.

To this amazing, rich, béchamel wonder! Soft and creamy.

Coconut flan. To die for.

And cappuccino.
There was even a dessert bar.

Overall, Catalana was fabulous. Very straight up, nothing too modernist or anything, but really good, really fresh Catalonian tapas and a great atmosphere.