Travel Series: San Sebastian, Spain, "Arzak"

Arzak

Alcade Jose Elosegui 273

Alto de Miracruz 21

San Sebastian, Spain

+ 34 943 278 465

For our nice dinner in San Sebastian, we decided to go to Arzak over Akelarre.  I was curious about this father-daughter team and after consulting with a few Spanish foodies, Arzak seemed like the place to go.  

When I saw the outside of the restaurant, I didn't know what to expect because it looked quite old fashioned and plain.  As we walked in, we saw a completely different world inside, with a modern black and white interior.  Since it has three Michelin stars, we were really dressed up, but we almost felt overdressed compared to everyone else.  We were shown to a table upstairs, and one thing we instantly noticed was that most of the servers were women.  We of course chose to have the tasting, and ordered a bottle of Monserrat Blanc (because we had seen the mountain earlier when we were in Penedes), which was like a cross between a chardonnay and viognier (slight oxidized taste).  

The food was all aesthetically beautiful and tasted good too.  The only presentation I didn't quite like was the fish course, which I thought was cute but slightly tacky.  I was a lot more impressed with the amuse bouches and starting courses than the fish and meat course, perhaps because I was starting to get very full, or perhaps because the element of surprise diminishes after a while.

One interesting thing about the service that I noticed was how unrefined it was.  The servers were all very friendly but everything they did was rather aggressive and rough.  It made me think back to our visit to Mugaritz, where they told us that they don't want to have an uptight, formal atmosphere because they want their guests to feel comfortable.  Here was a three Michelin starred restaurant that obviously placed more importance on their food then hospitality, and not so much the formality and technique of service.  It was refreshing to experience this at such a renowned restaurant. 

Puding de kabrarroka con kataifi

Humo de jamon con tomate

Arroz amarillo crujiente con hongos

Antxoas con fresa marinada: Anchovies with strawberries- such a weird but perfect combination!

Maiz, morcilla e higos: Corn, blood sausage and figs

Beet chips with sauteed oysters

Lobster: Patata, bogavente y copaiba- the red thing looked like a tomato but it burst in my mouth!

Poached egg with bread crumbs

Rape marea baja: monkfish.  The shells were amazing because they tasted just like mussels!

Lenguado con mamia: venison

A deliciously refreshing herb salad with puffed rice

Jugando a las canicas de chocolate

Travel Series: San Sebastian, Spain, "Ganbara"

21 Calle de San Jerónimo

San Sebastián 

34-94-342-2575 

 

For our second night in San Sebastian, my friend and I went to a pintxos bar (pinxtos is tapas in Basque) called Ganbara because I had read about it on the Food & Wine magazine online.  We had gone to a pinxtos bar the night before and learned how everything works.  You basically pick whatever you want and keep track of what you ate (honor system) and pay at the end.  You can also order the hot dishes because they fry or cook these items to order.

 

This octopus was marinated with onions, green pepper, olive oil and lemon.  Very tender and very refreshing.  Very much my kind of tapas! 

 

This place had a pile of chantarelles, pedron peppers and other ingredients for customers to choose from.

I had wanted to eat gooseneck barnacles since I heard about them about two years ago.  They look like turtle feet... These were just steamed- the sea water gave enough salt so no seasoning was needed.  I asked the guy working there "como como?" (How do I eat?) and he showed us how it's done.  You bend it in half until the skin breaks and suck out the inside.  They were good but not amazing... a little bit disappointing but I was happy to eat them nonetheless!

My favorite item at pinxtos bars was definitely the pedron pepper.  I actually got a spicy one in this lot.  They remind me of shishito peppers from Japan- sweet but bitter and very flavorful.

Went to another pinxtos bar after Ganbara before heading to Tas Tas.

Travel Series: Burgos, Spain, "La Puerta Real"

Plaza Rey San Fernando, 9

09003 Burgos, Spain
+34 947 265 200 
 
I walked into this restaurant with no expectations because we had just left the beautiful city of San Sebastian and I wasn't too thrilled about being in Burgos.  The interior of the restaurant was elegant and beautiful.  We were taken upstairs to a private room, where the manager explained what we would be served for lunch.  We were now in Castilla y Leon, not Basque country, so the cuisine was obviously quite different.  Burgos is known for their blood sausages, so that was of course, on the menu. 
 

To start, we each got this plate of Jamon Iberico! I love cured meats but I have to say I have never had a whole plate of Jamon Iberico to myself.  Some people had different cuts from others and I was happy with mine- it was well marbled and melted in my mouth.  I finished my plate but must admit that it was a little too much, especially since I had been eating a lot of Jamon Iberico in San Sebastian as well.  Now that I am back in New York, I wish I had this plate in front of me.

 

Berenjena! Eggplant stuffed with shellfish.  The skin was surprisingly not tough and the inside just melted in my mouth.

This dish was a revelation of flavor combinations.  Layers of apple, bacalao, blood sausage and tomato.  Amazing.  Every component balanced each other out and it was one perfectly harmonious dish.

Extremely full by this course but this grass fed beef was quality.  The fried potatoes were soggy but potatoes in Spain are so sweet and delicious!

Delicious cheese ice cream (SO good!) with raspberry sauce and brittle

Travel Series: Bilbao, Spain, Restaurante Guggenheim

Restaurante Guggenheim Bilbao    
Avda. Abandoibarra nº 2     
48001 Bilbao, Vizcaya
+34 944 239 333    
info@restauranteguggenheim.com

After a tour of the city of Bilbao, we walked over to the Guggenheim Museum to have lunch at the restaurant.  The chef de cuisine (or sous chef?) took us on a brief tour of the kitchen.

The R&D room where they test recipes.  Instead of making stocks the traditional way, they extract flavors from meat/bones/vegetables using the equipment in the photo below.

Red pepper/chick pea broth with tapioca pearls (there was a slight bitterness to it... it was sweet and savory- reminded me of something I would eat at a ryokan in Japan)

Poached egg with onion broth.  The onion broth was SO good- really concentrated flavor of onion (must be the way they extract it using their equipment).  The egg was beautiful as well.

Eggplant stuffed with onion and mushroom.  Very interesting dish.  The purple color of the eggplant was incredibly beautiful.  The eggplant was completely tender and the combination of eggplant with mushrooms was new to me but worked very well.

Smoked tomato stuffed with seafood, served with squid ink risotto.  The smokiness of the tomato was subtle, which was nice, but the dish overall smelled quite fishy.  The squid ink risotto was right on point though.

Turkey with a passion fruit glaze, served with cabbage and bacon.  The turkey was very tender and delicious but I wasn't a fan of the passion fruit glaze.  The cabbage had ginger in it, which I liked.  I got a strong taste of white pepper too but apparently there was none in it...

The dessert was absolutely divine.  Very simple flavors but deliciouuuussss.  It was a chocolate sponge cake (SO fluffy- apparently made in a microwave) with vanilla ice cream and coffee mousse (sort of gelatinous).