yonatanbram

- some bars will open with cold pintxos for breakfast and then switch to lunch, and some will open around 12:30. they all pretty much shut down around 16:00 and re-open 19:30-20:00 till 23:00 or so. and - breakfast would consist of coffee (decent coffee in spain) or colacao (chocolate milk, surprisingly common amongst grown men and women) and a pastry (croissant, brioche, toast etc.). it is curious however to watch how this is eaten: pastries are cut using fork and knife and eaten dipped in said hot beverage (i've seen this done with anything from plain croissant to toast smeared with butter and jam) - not to familiar with cheese shops here, you might want to visit the nearby village of Idiazabal, the famous basque cheese's namesake, i'm guessing there's cheese to be found there. - like someone had already mentioned ,lunch is a good time to sit down for a good meal if your on vacation, saving the night for a more dynamic pintxo bar crawl, which in this town can also be perceived as a self composed tasting menu with short walks between courses....

The apartment I am looking at is mayor, 17 - In the historic district. Is this a good area to be in..

hye daniel, i've been promising myself i'd start the formentioned thread ever since i got to san seb 4 months ago... so far i've just been eating and drinking. but i am well informed (or getting there), and have managed to figure out that most san seb 'where-to-go-threads' are very out of date. so i'm just gonna shoot some at you, and let me know if you need something more specific: pintxos: personal favorites are: - 'fuego negro' (31 de agosto), very cool place, sleek design, modern pintxos, with an affinity to foams, gels and their cousins. regular winner in pintxos competition, ask for the latest 'ganador' (award winning pintxo) - 'Borda Berri' (fermin calbeton) -sister bar to the famous 'cuchara de san telmo', this place is spacier, cosier, with better music, and open more regularly, then it's somewhat capricious older sister. very meaty, fatty, gelatinous and mouth-watering. go for the manita (pig trotter), the foie, the croqueta de brendada, carillera (veal cheek) or whatever they say is good. - 'bari-goiz' (i think it's called), small place two doors down from borda berri. great brocheta de gambas (shrimp skewer), callos (veal stomach i think), and pretty much everything is nice here. this one i've been recomended but havn't went yet: 'el lagar', it's in gros (my neigborhood) went by it and it looks very nice, so go be adventurous. sit down (non michelin superstarred): -juanito kojua- this is where i'm staging, i believe the best fish in town. i mean huge lubinas (i once found a whole octopus in one of those babies), precious besugos (with the hook still in mouth, rodaballo, rape, bogovante, kokotxas, bacalao, MERO!!!!!, Merluza (get the cogote!). also we put lots of energy in nice veggies: artichokes, cardos, eggplant, habitas (fava beans). just a very high quality traditional basque place, tell them Yonatan sent you, or if you're there for lunch during the week come say hi at the kitchen. - urepel: this is where my girlfriend was staging and i've been nagging to go for ages, this saturday i'll finally go hopefully... chef's been in el bulli for 5 years, with MB for 2 more. apparently the man knows his stuff, the place is always full and is known as a place to eat well. basque, but not hardcore traditional. for a good chuleton try 'txuleta' or 'casa gandarias' or even better, reserve a lunch/dinner at a sidreria (february-april) for chorizo, tortilla de bacalao, chuleta, queso+membrillo and litres on litres of fresh sider from the barrel.... don't count on walking home. hope that was helpful, and sorry if i went completely off thread....

my flat-mate is staging at rekondo (we're all students at luis irizar, where we have stages all over donostia), she says their chuleton comes from a 'caserio' not too far away, and that it's generally vaca vieja (old cow), the way she told it didn't give the impression they were anywhere close to being as fussy as el capricho about the origin of their beef.

pedro, i couldn't find any mention of Rekondo in the article, is this the Rekondo in donostia? can you describe their chuleta in comparison to the others you tasted?

I was interested in that school because it did seem very serious, but when I got to see the actual curricullum (available only in PDF and I don't know how to link it...), it appeared to be focused mainly at hotel managment and only very partialy in culinary arts: with only 300 annual hours actually in the kitchen (?!), and a 2 month training period per year, I don't really consider it as an option. thanks though P.S: why do you figure I should shy away from private schools?

In Barcelona and surroundings the main ones are: Hofmann Escola de Restauracio i Hostalatge de Barcelona Sant Pol as you mention. Cett ← which one did you go to? do you recommend it? from what I saw, these schools are either half-time culinary studies or full time hotel studies, is that what I should expect? sorry for the bombardment and thanks for the help... ← I took the one-year part-time professional course at Hofmann, then on to the one-year part-time pastry at Espai Sucre (instead of taking the pastry year at Hofmann). I heartily recommend both. They also have a three-year full-time course, so maybe that's what you're looking for. They have great connections with starred restaurants to place you for summer stages. I went to a one-star near Barcelona (because it was more of a hobby for me), but I know people who went to Can Roca, Berasategui, etc. My brother is about to finish the three-year at Escola de...., although he's in the restaurant management / service track and not the cooking one. He's quite happy with the school though, and they also have good placement options. There was someone in the forum (called Becca if I remember correctly) who was a cooking student at Escola de... so both schools (and I believe CETT too, not sure about Sant Pol) have full-time three-year long culinary programs. A word of advise though: if you don't speak Spanish, try to learn some before you get here. While the schools are open and some teachers speak English, it will be far easier if you can communicate at least a bit in Spanish/Catalan. ← ok, so right now I'm looking in to schools based in either barcelona or san sebastian, I figure these are the places to be (gastronomically speaking of course) in spain. I'm looking at these schools: in san sebastian: luis irizar, AIALA and 'EL TXOKO DEL GOURMET' (?) and in barcelona : the 28 month program at Hoffman and the bell-art school Silly D kindly informed me about hoffman but does anyone in the EG realm have intimate knowledge concerning the other establishment? I'm planning a visit early may and I'd like to know what to look for when I come in. thanks for any input, Y

In Barcelona and surroundings the main ones are: Hofmann Escola de Restauracio i Hostalatge de Barcelona Sant Pol as you mention. Cett ← which one did you go to? do you recommend it? from what I saw, these schools are either half-time culinary studies or full time hotel studies, is that what I should expect? sorry for the bombardment and thanks for the help...

thanks, that sounds like sound advice, I just might go for it. still, if anyo0ne knows of any other schools worth checking out, I'm all ears. errr, well and eyes and mouth etc.

Hey all, I've been a Spain forum reader for a while, first post though... I'm looking to find a serious culinary school in spain, something in the class of CB or CIA. the 2 I've found so far (besides short term or touristy schools) are escuela irizar in san sebastian (not replying my mails) and a school in san pol del mar(site updated a few years back...). Does anyone have any current reliable info? I've been googling nights away on this...