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I do not know who the guy above is, but certainly is not Martín Berasategui.

More info at Metropoli's chronicle. I'd say it was a historic event to see Ferrán Adrià and Jacques Maximin in the stage at the same time and feeling the emotion both transmitted as Ferrán gave Maximin the award for a timelife devoted to gastronomy.

Probably not the best part to get proper rest, you'll love it if you don't mind being right in the middle of the action trading off some sleep. Go to Mugaritz. Andoni seems to be hitting the nail on the head these days while Martín, as much as I hate to say it, seems to be lost in complexities without aim. This is less obvious if you order the Martín's tasting menu, comprising both the newest dishes with past highlights.

Between Juli and Quique there's Xavier Agulló, food writer based in Catalonia which has covered with great detail and passion the progress of hypermodern cuisine in Spain. He writes weekly in Metrópoli, El Mundo's leisure supplement.

When we asked the owner, Txomin, he told us that he used meat from Trasacar, which sources its meat from Denmark, Holland and Germany. Trasacar is the company serving many asadores all over the country. Ansorena in Madrid is an exception to that, as well as El Capricho and El Riscal. I'm sure there are others, but they're the exception and not the norm.

No, he's not. We had lunch at Julián de Tolosa on Saturday, while we had lunch at Baserri Maitea and dinner at Rekondo the next day.

Without mentioning in its name --lost in the editing, probably--, Jeffrey wrote this about it: At dinner we reverted to the quotidian at an asador just outside of San Sebastián, where we were again served pretty ordinary meat. The steak was nicely cooked from a technique perspective, but lacked flavor and wasn't well aged, thus coming the greater part of its taste from the grilling rather than from the meat itself.

El Capricho sources a good part of its oxen from Portugal and some --less and less-- from Galizia, Cantabria and Asturias. Having tasted in a week steak at Casa Julián in Tolosa, Rekondo, Baserri Maitea, El Capricho, Ansorena and done a comparison of Valle del Esla, Casín Asturiano and Valle del Esla with a steak from El Capricho, the latter was the clear winner. The best way, however, of become a believer is going there, Víctor. In February they're going to have three different oxen for their Jornadas around oxen, with a menu consisting of oxen dishes. Including steak, of course.

After a period of relative calm, 2007 is finally going to be a quite good year in terms of interesting openings in Madrid. Astrid & Gastón, Diverxo, Kabuki Wellington, Zaranda... And, based on the meal vserna and I had today, I'd say that above all, Paco Morales and Rut Cotroneo new venture at the Hotel Hospes. Paco Morales, who's worked as chef under Andoni's command at Mugaritz for several years and spent a whole season at elBulli, shows his own style, which doesn't rely on any gratuitous technology to present totally balanced dishes, using the natural texture of ingredients in clever combinations. He also avoids artificial complexity, achieving great and deep flavors with just a few ingredients in each dish. Right now, one of the most ambitious restaurants in Madrid.

Mugaritz has removed the carte and now offers two different tasting menus.

There's a restaurant in Roquetas de Mar from which I have the best references, particularly about how they treat fish in their dishes. Restaurante Alejandro Avda Antonio Machado, 32 (Puerto de Roquetas de Mar) Phone: 950322408

As expected, Kabuki Wellington is right now the hottest place in Madrid with waiting lists working for most of the days. If a seat in the bar works for you, keep that in mind if they turn you down for a table.

After tasting Carpier's products, I think they are the best fish smoking company in Spain. Carlos Piernas, the owner, is passionate about all things fish. I don't know if they deliver to Madrid, but I'll find out. This is their web: Carpier's site

One of the best seafood places in the city and probably in the country is open on Sunday night, Rías de Galicia. Keep in mind that the best seafood in the city and probably in the countray is expensive, though.

That Sánchez Romera, whom evidently has talent in large quantities, is still stuck with micri at this stage of the game is sad to me. Micri as a gelling agent was superseeded years ago, yet Sánchez Romera insists on featuring it in almost every single dish --in different degrees of gel--, from the amuses to the petit fours.

Tristán and Read's in Mallorca are probably the best places in the island, with the latter doing its take of modern cuisine.

Sa Punta is definitely not modern cuisine, Nathan, I know it quite well since I've stayed there a number of times. Miramar at Llança tends to be overlooked since it's farm from Barcelona and even Girona, almost in the border with France. It's basically a seafood place which uses some modern techniques. When was your last visit to Can Roca? Lately they've been doing interesting things using low temperature distillation. The oyster with distilled earth is perhaps its most well-known example. L'Esguard dishes are stunning from a visual perspective but almost every dish is about some degree of gelling.

If Astrid y Gastón was the long waited opening in the first half of the year and Divexo the surprise, Kabuki Wellington is what's going to take Madrid by the storm in the second half and beyond. After a long time of doing changes and renewal in the local, hitting all sort of issues, Ricardo Sanz's new place will start serving next week. He and his team just spent these past three days tuning things up with family and friends. Spectacular setting in the hotel Wellington over Velázquez street, lots of room between tables and in the sushi bar and Ricardo's style of adding Spanish nuances to Japanese inspired cuisine. Add a provocative wine list to the mix, the clever move of adding Oriol Balaguer designing and supervising all things pastry --he's to open his own store in Madrid by November-- and you have a candidate for scoring pretty high in Madrid's restaurant scene. Oddly enough Ricardo's main competitor will be his other place, the original Kabuki, which he left in the capable hands of Mario Payán. So, the next two to three weeks are going to be a good time to score a table at the new Kabuki Wellington. After that, it's going to be much, much tougher.

Funny, I've been there today and did almost the same thing ordering the three cebiches and the three tiraditos. That is, all the cebiches and tiraditos available in the menu. They were quite good but it looks to me that the rumors about their toning down the spiciness and the coriander are accurate.

Kathleen, great foodblogging! Your Spanish is terrific, sounds like you've been in Spain much longer. Asturianos is a one of its kind place, you'll either love it or don't get it. Food can be inconsistent from time to time but we keep coming back to it. The berberechos a recent addition to their menu, are among the best in Madrid, along with Sacha's in that pack. Thanks god, it seems they removed a dish made in hell, Belarmino's creation --the other brother: some sort of duck magret carpaccio with orange juice. But we had some good laughs thanks to it! PS: The white wine was a Leroy 1997, from Maison Leroy. They have a quite good wine list at Asturianos.

No, no idea.

White burgundies? What about Coche Dury Meursault 04 at 44€? Villa Mas operates as a drink bar once they finish serving dinner. Quite cool, I'd say.

La Xicra in Palafrugell it's an absolute must to get to know traditional Ampurdán cooking. Els Tinars is not far away from Pals though it requires some driving. Villa Mas in S'Agaro has a lovely setting by the beach, very nice cooking and the best Burgundy list you can find in Spain at unbelievable prices. I have good references of L'Aliança in Anglés and Hotel Cassamar in Llafranc.

No, the new location will be the Torre de Can Roca. I was there on Tuesday --they're in great shape once again-- and both Josep and Joan were very clear about it.

I'm not so positive since according to Luis aka Lord of the Tables, they're still pondering a couple of options: closing Monday and Tuesday all season or working ten days in a row and then closing 4 days. It seems they did this when Juli and Ferrán went to Documenta and worked well for everybody.