anyavon

Commerc 24 had been getting pretty bad rap in town for being so overpriced and not worth it--deservedly so--hopefully Abellan can redeem his reputation a bit with the new place. Were people talking about futbol Pero when you went? After voting for independance, wonder if Catalans are rooting for the national team, given how many Barca player are on it. I know I know...not food related but couldn't helpt it. GO SPAIN!!! They've been looking so damn amazing so far.

What would be a good source on the history of Madrid dining--I have all of Lorenzo's books, plus books from Manuel Martinez Llopis that he gave me way back (what a wonderful charcater he was). Is there anything lucid and brief and reliable to use as reference?

Thank you Victor. So it was only in the 19th century that tabernas began serving food--before that they were strictly drinking houses? From reading Lorenzo Diaz and talking to him I was under the impression that the practice dates back earlier... What would Botin be, a meson or a fonda? And is it true that Manchegos were mainly in charge of the taberna trade and that the region's cuisine defined Madrid's popular dining early on? (Again, this was what Diaz had told me). What would be some of the dishes you'd eat in a 19th century Madrid taberna?

What is the difference between taberna, tasca and meson?

I've spent the last three years trying to replicate Spanish dishes at home for my cookbook. Yes, it's much easier that it was several years ago. I've just come back from a 25-city tour of America promoting the same book and cooking on TV and getting stuff like marcona almonds, pimenton, piquillos, or Arbequina oil have not been a porblem, even in the deepest Midwest. That said, on some, almost existential level, nothing tastes the same. Forget something as exalted as lechazo...take a simple revuleto or a tortilla de patatas.No matter how much you'll spend on boutique organic eggs here, it just won't taste the way it does in Spain. Vegetables were another porblem...those Mallorcan red peppers and eggplants in season you need for a proper Tumbet, for instance. Top grade bacalao, baby squid, fresh anchovies just off the boat, all the Iberico porkstuffs, the beans and the garbanzos, no you don't get them here. Yes, you can make a very nice cocido or fabada or paella with what''s available here but no, it won't compare with the ones prepared in the right places in Spain. Despite the wider availibility of French and Italian products here, the problem remains the same--you just can't have a "proper" bouillabaisse without rascasse. The problem with replicating Spanish dishes is that the producto-driven cuisine at good restaurants there is very minimalist & transparent, so without the producto you don't really have a recipe & there's nothing even to fake (the more conceptual "chefy" Spanish dishes are actually easier to play with). This isn't to say that Spanish ingredients are uniformally superior--go to a supermarket in Spain and you'll see the same flavorfless Chilean fruit. Yet at good producto restaurants, there's a refinement and rigour and sourcing that's absolutely crucial to the overall flavor of the cuisine. I've written five ethnic cookbooks and have to say that Spain has been the hardest to capture, particularly the simplest dishes. Which probably explains why there isn't a single truly authentic Spanish restaurant in the US. Then again, even in New England, I can count on my fingers the restaurants that do chowder with quahog clams.

slkinsey, if you are in NY, Despana Brand Foods, a Spanish food store based in Queens just opened a branch downtown in Manhattan. They carry dried Asturian faves (expensive but worth it) and very decent chorizo and morcilla. I make fabada all the time with their products--there is a recipe in my book, The New Spanish Table--and it comes out just fine. If you don't want dish to be greasy, you can blanch the sausages in boiling water first for a couple of minutes.

Real Café Bernabeu...is that instead of or in addition to Puerta 57?

The inclusion of St. John is actually one of the redeeming qualities of this list (tho not placed as it was below Berasategui). That and seeing more Spanish restos, though again Mugartiz # 10 and Celler de Can Roca at 21? WHY? And no Carme Ruscalleda? The top ten make sense--well, almost--and then the list just degenerates into random chaos. Bocuse!?....And nada in Tokyo probably the world's greaest restaurant capital not just for Japanese but for Western food as well. Oh well..

I don't think Simon claims any serious expertise (he hasn't been to Spain all that much) and had any particular restrictions other than time constraints. (Valencia is a quick side trip from BNA) But it's great that the French are coming... And...just curious, what "group" then has an in-depth knowledge of Spain?I meet food reporters from all over, both in Spain, at Lo Mejor and MadridFusion, and abroad and they seem to all talk about the same restaurants too. 9If they talk about Spain at all) Maybe the Japanese? There is one Tokyo journalist, Maki Kimura who's been absolutely everywhere and written about it, and she doesn't even speak a word of Spanish!

Pedro, I didn't suggest that they were the absolute exclusive focus. However, just from a cursory glance at the first couple of pages of this site, Madrid, Basque Country and Catalonia seem to dominate in a pretty big way. (The asado thread you site is from 2004) There really doesn't seem to be a million posts about, say, Quique Dacosta or Dani Garcia who--at least in my opinion--deserve every bit as much discussion as Andoni. I'm not critisizing the choice of topics....I'm merely suggesting that Simon's choices of regions and restaurants reflects a general and a rather obvious trend...

Well, if you're a busy guy like Simon, have 5-6 days and want a crash course in new Spanish cuisine, where would you go? Sanse and Catalunya seem like the obvious places, with the biggest concentration of talked-about restaurants and great traditional food cultures. Besides, as a service journalist, he wants touristy regions close to the border where his reader will actually go. Seems pretty logical. On this post, where are all the threads about Manolo de la Osa--who will actually schlep to Las Pedroneras?--and his acolytes in la Mancha? About Raul Aleixandre, Quique Dacosta, Tono Perez and Francis Paniego, about new-wave chefs in Aragon or Asturias. About the rice culture in the Valencian hinterlands or the asados of Castille--just to throw off some random examples.People seem to go to Madrid, Guipuzcoa and Catalonia and talk about Ferran, Andoni, Arzak and Santi.It's odd...not even Martin or Ruscalleda get a lot of chat. A "picture of Spain? in 5 days? You can have amazing food all over the country, both new and traditional but for a quick immersion, Arzak, Mugartiz, Rocas, Ca'Sento and Elkano isn't bad. Guess you can do Madrid--as a microcosm of Spain--but if you are a critic eating anonymously (like Simon does) and don't have insiders guiding you around, it can be tricky...

Voila, another Frenchman, Francois Simon from Le Figaro, framing his impressions of a recent eating trip to Spain as "10 lessons from Spain to France" Very amusing... http://www.madamefigaro.fr/cuisine/20060320.MAD0002.html

But one can't really compare Madrid with London, Berlin, Amsterdam, or even Paris, immirgant cities where foriegn cuisines have long stopped being considered "exotic" and firmly entered the culinary mainstream. Or Brussels where you can completely immerse yourself in an African neighborhood. Isn't Zapatero pursuing a more open immigration policy? Curious to see how it might play out in the food world...I might be completely wrong but immigrants always seem much more integrated and less ghettoized in Spain than elswhere in Europe. Are there actual immigrant enclaves in Madrid aside from a bit in Lavapies? Barcelona seems a bit more globalized...

The spinach with chick peas was actually really hard to reproduce in an American kitchen--a simple dish but took me like seven attempts to capture the authentic savor. Glad you enjoyed it. If you like Sevillian tapas, do try the Sevillian marinated carrots, inspired by a version from Las Golondrinas tapas bar. It's super easy but full of flavor. And thank you Brett for the kind words, thrilled that you like the book.

Victor, if you define critical influence in terms of the number of paying guests it brings to a restaurant, yes, Rafa's is marginal (though Pais Vasco isn't exactly a culinary wasteland) However, if one looks at his role in rallying young Spanish chefs together into a movement, pushing them to experiment, organizing a venue where they can exchange ideas--plus the impact of all of this internationally--then a different picture emerges. And hey, who else in Europe publishes a guide that so relentlessly--and often absurdly--privileges innovation? As for European press, Gault, Millau, nouvelle cuisine, yes this was thirty five years ago. I write about restaurants around the world for a living, maintain regular contact with critics in many countries, and read international food press on a weekly basis. And I stand by my assertion that the systematic critical support that experimental cuisine has enjoyed in Spain is unique. If I had time, I could go down the list, country by country, city by city, paper by paper...But I'm off to Paris today--with a brief stop in Madrid--to work with Francois Simon of Le Figaro on a piece. He certainly doesn't seem believe that there is much critical support for innovation in France. By your definition, Michelin is certainly an "influential" publication in Europe. Would you seriously characterize their taste as "progressive"?