pedro

Let's return to seafood for a moment. As I've said before, in Madrid there's a large number of people who are seafood fanatics. I wouldn't include me in that group, though I enjoy seafood as much as the next guy. Well, here goes the story. The seafood gets to Madrid's central market, MercaMadrid, in the wee small hours. Seafood has a dynamic price, meaning that the price of the same product or piece of product changes over time. Not from day to day, but during the same day. The top restaurants, or at least the top restaurants which don't get their product directly from the coast, can't let down their customers not having the widest selection of seafood in terms of variety and quantity. Therefore they have to buy as soon as the market opens, thus paying the highest prices. Now, they come the non top restaurants, which have to have a reasonable broad variety, but where no customer would feel aggrieved or defrauded if a given item, let's say king crab from Galicia, is not available on a certain day. The theory (myth?), states that the product has the same quality than the product bought by restaurants in the first tier. They all buy from the same providers, and when these ran out of stock it's one of the restaurants down in the chain which doesn't get that product. As you'd imagine, the process is suppose to continue until reaching a level where you find a restaurant where they have a very small variety of seafood, perhaps two or three types, but of excellent quality at more than reasonable prices (the price reduction in the source, i.e., Mercamadrid, is passed on to the end customer). Of course, don't expect fancy settings here. The primitive and zero atmosphere qualifiers that have appeared in other thread apply here. According to one of the seafood talibans I know, these are the restaurants that always have excellent seafood, varying prices and diversity but not quality of their offering. Apart from Rianxo at the top of the pyramid, which I believe is quite good, though is not Combarro, I've never been to the other restaurants. Take your own risks: - Rianxo - Casa Adriana - Naveira do Mar - Reyes If anyone has been to any of these, his/her feedback would be more than appreciated. Good luck.

Certainly, I wasn't aware of that Galician's tradition, perhaps because I'm more familiar with the unsophisticated side of Galician's cooking, based on excellent raw products with little human intervention.

I'll be also going to Mallorca in a couple of weeks. I'm interested if anyone has tried Tristán and what's the feedback about it. I'm considering to lunch there if it's really worth it. Koldo Royo and Celler Can Amer also appear in my schedule. Open to other recs., as always.

Paulino: C/ Alonso Cano, 34; +34 91 441 87 37 Paulino de Quevedo: C/ Jordán, 7; +34 91 591 39 29 El quinto Vino: C/ Hernani, 48; +34 91 553 66 00 El Ventorrillo Murciano: C/ Tres Peces, 20; +34 91 528 83 09 Montepríncipe: C/ San Andrés, 31; +34 91 448 83 10 Viuda de Vacas: Cava Alta, 23; +34 91 366 58 47 La tasca suprema: C/ Argensola, 7; +34 91 308 03 47 The C/ is the abbreviation of Calle (street). The +34 is only needed in case you call from other country. A good resource to find addresses and phone numbers is Metropoli, where I located all the addresses and phones above. There's a box on the top with the label Comer - restaurante where you can type the name of the restaurant and it'll give you the result. It could be tricky sometimes with restaurant names of more than one word, but it's a matter of trial and error. Also, is missing the details for the restaurants recently reviewed or opened. If you don't get results with the search, take a look to All Fernando Point's reviews in Metropoli and see if you find the restaurant listed there. Another good resource to find addresses and phone numbers all over Spain is La Netro.

hmm. Perhaps the time to check La Broche back has arrived ...

No, no direct experience there. But it looks it has a reputation for its traditional castillian dishes and red meat.

Without going mad ordering seafood, sharing two starters (some langoustines, octopus, scallops, shrimps), two entrées of fish (excellent turbot), dessert, wine and coffee, the last two times I've been there the bill was somewhere between 150-170€ for two persons. I was there a year ago or so, and it didn't particularly impressed me, but with steaks you know it's specially hard to draw conclusions from a single meal since they're totally dependent on the product. I'd say there's a consensus that the best place for steaks in Madrid is Julián de Tolosa. My take on prices would be something around 120-140€ for two persons, wine included. I've got to confess that I've a prejudice against Botín. I've never found a compelling reason to visit it. In Segovia, you have to have the suckling pig in José María. Probably you'll manage to get a wonderful meal there by less than 100€ for two people. Generally speaking, I don't think that Parador's cuisine is at the level it should be, being somewhat disappointing. The recommendations that gave you Paco are good. Let me add some wine bars with good tapas, perhaps in less frequented areas: Asturianos, Entrevinos, Taberneros, Cuenllas Wine Bar.

Yes, they are. Cheeks have much more meat, in fact, is almost everything meat which gets a gelatinous texture once has been properly cooked. Jowls have clear stripes of fat which are predominant or almost predominant over the meat. Víctor, leaving the jowls aside, how did you find the rest of the menu?

Not at all, Paul. My points are: a) Every chef depends on Michelin stars to get foreigners. Here, the impact of Michelin among locals is neglectable. But if you get a star you'll get a nice increment of the revenue, which doesn't hurt, I guess. b) Since the number of tourists which go to France because of the food is larger than those visiting Spain for the same reason, french chefs are more dependent than spanish ones.

What do you consider moderately priced? I'm asking that because if someone asks me about Fronton, and certainly Combarro, I wouldn't include them under that category. Not in the most expensive category, but neither in the "moderately priced". Just trying to get a better sense of what you'd be looking for to make better recs.

Bux, La Mancha and Manchuela are different D.O. (Denominación de Origen). To make things more complicated, there's the equivalent of one of your States named Castilla La Mancha (abb. La Mancha) where both D.O. La Mancha and Manchuela are located. Some winemakers are beginning to fulfill the potential that these zones have, moving from producing non-quality wine at large (a granel) to quality wines. I suppose that prices of vineyards in Rioja and Ribera del Duero have to do with winemakers moving elsewhere in the country. The wine you had could have been La Antigua, from Martínez Bujanda.

Not much, but at least, food. Coming back to one of the points that's been debated, among the chefs I know in Spain, Michelin guide is viewed as important to get foreign customers, and getting the first star can increase you revenue by a 20%, which I assume is good. It's difficult for me to imagine what El Bulli or La Broche would be doing without the income brought by foreigners. Since the number of people visiting France for gastronomical reasons is much larger than in Spain (fact in which Michelin rating policies in Spain have something to do), I would assume they're even more dependent on tourists than here. At least, in some segment of restaurants.

Which was specifically addressed to quantum physics.

Another great dish I just had in Aldaba. Bacalao al pil-pil sobre morro y pata en vizcaína, cod fish in pil-pil sauce over trotters and snout with red pepper, chili and tomato sauce. Odd combination, which actually works very well. Talking with José Luis Pereira, owner, maître and offal's lover, he said that we use to take offal on itself, a dish of tripes, a dish of sweetbreads. But he also stated that he believes that this ingredient works perfectly to enhance other dishes, even fish, because of its soft flavor and texture. After tasting the dish I mentioned, I only could nod in agreement.

Never been to Abac, but I've visited once en Freixà. Very good starters, uninteresting entrées and desserts, impressive cheese course, selected by a knowledgeable sumiller, passionated about them (and wine, of course). I'll give a shot to Abac before returning to en Freixà.

I'd define it as extreme techniques and creativity applied to catalonian and spanish food. You still could trace back in most of the occasions the original dish which inspired / was the basis of the dish presented by Arola. As you probably know, he's considered one of the main disciples of Adrià, but at the same time one who's been able to develop a style of his own. Sergi always praises Adrià and El Bulli, giving lots of credit to Adrià and acknowledging the major influence his period there plays in his cooking. Being the only two starred restaurant in Madrid, I was dissapointed with my last dinner there back in May last year. Inconsitency has been cited as the main defect of Sergi's La Broche. A restaurant to which I'll return, though I'll let some time pass before that. (BTW, with just some more dollars, you'd probably could travel to Madrid and dine at La Broche )

Well, probably menu is a bad term. Perhaps it'll be better to say that dishes which appear in a given year (maybe the 100 you mentioned) would be perfected during that season and the next, with none or minimal incorporations of new dishes in season "n + 1". He didn't say anything specifically dealing with removal of dishes or the alike. Could it be that the number of untouched/barely touched dishes has reached a point where he feels there's something to tackle?

The old fashioned Rififí, in Palma, serves excellent seafood and the traditional "caldereta de langosta". Mouth already watering. The rice in Sa Cranca wasn't bad at all last time I was there. It's also in Palma, near Koldo Royo (I concur with this recommendation). My experience at El Olivo was not specially good. NY/Paris markups on wine, and the food was nothing to write home about.

With all the good reviews and comments made about Combarro, I admit I haven't resisted the temptation to go there. Two times, in fact, since vmilor's original post. Last one, lunch past Saturday. Four or five years ago, I visited the original location at Reina Mercedes, but now I chose to go to the Ortega y Gasset restaurant. I must confess that I'm not mad about seafood, madness that is commonly spread here in Madrid, being the food of choice on important occasions, including the xmas meals. That said, it's almost impossible not to fully enjoy a meal of the quality you have in Combarro. The best king prawns I've had (langostinos alistados), simply grilled with some sea salt, were firm, tender and with a lightly sweet taste at the end. So were the shrimps, perhaps less sweet. The scallops a la gallega has already been described by vmilor. IMHO, is extremely hard to cook seafood without killing the original flavors. This recipe achieves that difficult goal. Grilled turbot, sea bass, sole meuniere, ranging from exceptional (the turbot) to very good (the sole meuniere, perhaps just a little overcooked. I guess is my mistake to order sole meuniere in Combarro ). Order a bottle of Albariño with the meal, and you'll have a meal that'll make you happy for some hours. What else could be asked?.

I caught an excerpt of an interview to Ferrán Adrià in Canal Gastronomía, and he made a couple of statements that could be worth to share with you: a) He stressed very much that the kind of cookware he uses in El Bulli is pretty much the same what you could find in any restaurant kitchen in the world. He literally said that they weren't using any NASA equipment. b) They're planning to move to bi-annual menus, meaning that you won't see a radical change in the 2004 menu compared with 2003. He stated that they have the feeling that they weren't working enough in some ideas they have, so they weren't getting all the potential from some dishes. He mentioned that opening just 6 months per year was related to this. I was surprised about b). What do you think about it?.

La Boquería is a one of a kind at least in Spain, I'd say. Madrid has good markets, like Mercado de Ventas (good prices) or Mercado de Chamartín (some of the best restaurants buy there). I guess you're referring to Mercamadrid, which is the central market where some restaurants and shops buy their goods. AFAIK, you can't visit it. Lavapies certainly is one of the hottest neighborhoods in Madrid. Lots of people from all over the world, lots of tapas bars and some good and unexpensive restaurant (try El Ventorrillo Murciano, for excellent rice). If you're going to choose the neighborhood based on food, this could be a good place, along with the Cava Baja surroundings. Anyway, all of the traditional areas of tapas around the "Centro" are quite close to each other.

I'm not totally convinced about this one, Eduardo. I'd rather consider it a dessert, which I'm sure Bux was not referring to when he made his stament about chocolate in spanish recipes. Dessert, but with odd ingredients: turn into crumbs your some days old bread, fry them in olive oil with garlic and paprika, and make them not greasy. After that pour them in hot chocolate and you've got it.

Perdices con chocolate (partridge with chocolate) is a traditional dish in Spain, I believe specifically in Toledo, Bux. One of the dishes that I've enjoyed the most, was some cuitlacoche quesadillas with mole poblano and chocolate sauce. Clearly mexican influenced .

It looks like a "barbo" or some kind of "carpa" to me, Víctor (seeing one of the pictures).

I'm just landed from our customary Christmas dinner at Viridiana, with my sister in law, her husband, my wife and I. One of the dishes that Abraham García, chef and owner, presented to us, was defined by him as "Casquería del mar" (butcher's shop from the sea?). It was a dish consisting of raf tomato, with sole roe coated in flour and lightly fried, with monkfish liver marinated in Nouilly Prat vermout with salt and pepper, and put to boiling water for a very short period of time. The sole roe was said to be the second best after the sea bream's one, and the texture of the monkfish liver was quite similar to that of a seared foie. I swear I didn't planned to have this tonight, but I couldn't find it more appropiate .