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Bodegas Casa Montaña


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In the trendy Cabañal district of Valencia, one can find a century old wine and tapas bar adhering to traditional foods of extremely high quality called Bodegas Casa Montaña. Earlier in the evening my wife and I met up with eGullet Society Specialist, Rogelio Enriquez and his very charming and lovely wife, who fortunately had the foresight to make a reservation at this very busy bodega.

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The entrance

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The main room. To get to the back room where we had a table and our tapas, we had to duck under the bar and head to the back. The bearded gentleman is the proprietor.

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On the way to our table we passed some wines and hams amongst other delights.

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The menu. Unfortunately, this being a Monday and a "bridge day" they were out of many items including most fresh seafood dishes. Fortunately, they still had a few delicious morsels for us to nibble on.

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Tuna marinated with olive oil, salt and pepper. When I saw marinated tuna on the menu and knew that they were lacking much fresh seafood I expected this to have been canned. Instead, this was the essence of what top-notch fresh ingredients can do when given the opportunity to shine. Delicious.

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Sliced tomatoes with salt and olive oil. When I first saw this dish I was surprised that they would be serving tomatoes that appeared to be out of season. Then I tasted them and I was transported to August at home only better. These were stunningly good tomatoes. I guess one cannot always tell a tomato by its cover either.

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Ajoarrioro, a brandade like cod dish that was silky and delicious - pure soul food. Another name for this dish is atascaburras, which Rogelio tells me is the more accurate name. I'm also told that there is a distinction between the dishes, though i am not sure what that is.

We also had a platter of the most delicious jamon and embutidos that I have ever had. The lomo de bellota was particularly noteworthy. Unfortunately, in my excitement, I neglected to take a photo of it! :shock:

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We washed much of this down with this superb manzanilla.

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Cod-stuffed piquillo peppers - the perfect Spanish comfort food. These were so stellar we ordered another plate.

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Beef tips (solomillo) with green onions. A deceptively simple plate that was utterly delicious. looking at the photo right now is inspiring a real craving for this dish. It should be simple to duplicate, but I doubt that I will ever be able to.

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Cheese toast. I don't recall the specific kind of cheese, but once again this was comfort food at its best.

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The side of the building.

Casa Montaña was a great experience. The food was superb. I can see why this is one of Quique Dacosta's favorite restaurants. The wine list is extensive and relatively reasonable with help from a very serious and knowledgeable sommelier (who tastes the wine before he pours it for the customer). The service itself is a bit gruff, but not unusual or particularly poor for such a busy, informal tapas bar. A return visit is a must when I come back to Valencia, a city that I very much wish to return to. maybe then they will have a wide assortment of fresh seafood and o that solomillo!

After our meal we Rogelio suggested that we finish with some horchata from the village best known for it, Alboraya, where chufas or tigernuts are grown in the ground like peanuts. Horchata, served ice cold, is a mixture of the milk of the tigernuts, water and generally sugar. I had mine without added sugar and didn't miss it one bit. It was quite delicious and refreshing.

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John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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The cheese on the toast could be an Extremaduran torta (similar to Portugal's queijo da Serra) - a soft ewes' milk cheese, curdled with a thistle, not with rennet. Similar in texture to a vacherin Mont d'Or.

Victor de la Serna

elmundovino

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just went today to eat after a few monthes. Casa Montaña is a good place to go even if the food is not fantastic. The best of Casa Montaña is the wine list.

We tried a Valencian wine Bilogia, because they didn't had a Trilogia from Casa los Frailes. Good quality wine for a decent but no more food. It was a casual business lunch so we let people of Casa Montaña choose and we had almost the same order than docsconz.

I think it's not a bad place to go in Vakencia, but more typicall and diferent for me would be JOMI in Nazaret that is a PLACE to go, if you like "Salazones"

At the end a bit of deception and more when we had to call this morning to say no to a table we had at Ca Sento.

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