Silly Disciple

most large bookstores have a decent selection, i.e. FNAC, El Corte Ingles or Abacus, among others, here in Barcelona. Also, restaurant Biblioteca just off the Ramblas has some good books to sell, although they are only open during lunch-dinner hours. There's also a small bookstore (sorry, don't know the name) located inside the Mercat de la Boqueria. FNAC, Abacus and El Corte Ingles have multiple locations. http://www.fnac.es http://www.elcorteingles.es http://www.abacus.es Restaurant Biblioteca Junta de Comerç 28 Tel. 93 412 62 21 SD

Butterfly, sorry it took me a while to reply, I couldn't remember the name of the hotel and had to wait for my friend who lives in Roses to call me back - anyway, the place is called La Cala, and is a no frills place for about 15 EUR a night. I don't have the phone number but my friend will get it for me, tomorrow. SD edited to add: if you decide to stay in Roses for more than a day, there's another place, right accross from Rafa's as well, which is worth visiting. The restaurant is called SnackMar/Las Golondrias, and its a small (4/6 tables if I remember right) restaurant with great seafood and some quite interesting dishes. I think it has already been mentioned before, but can't find the thread.

Given my limited experience, I would choose Rafa hands down for perfectly cooked fresh fish and seafood. When? I imagine it gets crowdier during the summer. What to order? whatever he has the day you visit, it's guaranteed to be the day's catch. SD

hmmm well, a little bit of this and a little bit of that, as my grandma would say... start with these quantities, which I'm making up off the top of my head, and adjust as necessary: Mix olive oil (let's say 1 cup), wine vinegar (less than one cup... maybe 1/2 a cup) and hot water (not much, 3/4 tbsp ?). Add minced red pepper (1/2 cup) and dry oregano (2 tbsp). mince some garlic (1), add coarse salt (2 tsp) and mash together. let it sit for a bit and mix with the other ingredients. add mustard powder to taste. or next time I cook some meat (which might not be right away... I live in Spain now) I'll make some and note the quantities... SD

lessee. Parsley maybe, but cilantro is a no-no for sure, since the herb is practically unknown in traditional argie food, and has only been introduced lately by other latin american cuisines. Sames goes for jalapeño. Garlic? sure, go for it, or you can even mix in a bit of onion. So I'll give you parsley, garlic and onion as optionals, but you have to have oregano for sure. Also note that the herbs are actually used dried, ie as spices, but I guess you can go fresh as well. I am argie, and that's how we used to usually make it at home. SD

Here's a fairly common recipe: Mix olive oil, wine vinegar and hot water. Add minced red pepper and oregano. mince some garlic, add coarse salt and mash together. let it sit for a bit and mix with the other ingredients. add mustard powder to taste. and here's the secret ingredient which will make it a killer chimicurri: add some minced/chopped almonds. Also, it's key to let the chimichurri sit in the refrigerator for a while for all the flavors to develop, infuse and mix. SD

Parking a few blocks away will be not only better, but the only feasible way, since Rafa's little restaurant sits on a street that is a pedestrian walkway most of the day. I think you can drive through it only during the early morning and/or weekends (can't remember exactly, but I DID drive through it once when I stayed in the small hotel right accross from Rafa's). SD

The owners of Bar Uriarte and Restaurant Sucre also own the Gran Bar Danzon, a great place for a drink, quick food and they have a great selection of wine. Indeed, I think Ruca Malen has great wines. If you can find the Ruca Malen Grand Cru Cabernet Sauvignon, definitely go for it! SD

Two other places I visited I must recommend: - La Bourgogne, at the Alvear Palace Hotel, Ayacucho 2026. If Michelin stars were given to restaurants down here, in my opinion this place would definitely get one or two. - Nectarine, Vicente Lopez 1661, is a hidden gem in the posh Recoleta neighbourhood, in a little and not very well known pasage. SD

here are a few places I've been visiting in my current trip to Buenos Aires (I'm here for another week), some already known, some not part of the usual tourist path. I'm in a bit of a hurry right now so not much commenting, but go ahead and ask if you have any questions. - Chef German Martitegui's Agraz, at the Caesar Park Hotel, excellent. Martitegui has two other restaurants in Buenos Aires, and has recently opened another one in Madrid. - new and upcoming Thymus, in the Palermo neighbourhood, Lerma 525. Thymus' chef (can't remember the name) apparently worked with Michel Bras. - Another great up and coming place is trendy Restaurant Sucre (Sucre 676). - Don't go to Tomo I. While it tends to be a tourist destination, definitely not worth it. - Don't miss Buenos Aires' great ice cream: there are three big names, and you can find their places all around Buenos Aires: Freddo, Volta and Persicco. - For great meat outside the usual tourist places, either visit La Brigada in San Telmo neighbourhood (Estados Unidos 465) or La Cabrera in Palermo (Cabrera 5099). Much better than what you can get in the tourist restaurants of either downtown or Puerto Madero. - If you go to the old neighbourhood of La Boca, there are two great italian-argentinan places to go for food: El Obrero and Ill Materello. that's all I can remember right now, will try to come back with more. SD

see here , prices are discussed in the Can Roca thread. SD

which area in Buenos Aires are you staying at? do they deliver anywhere in Buenos Aires and suburbs? Silly

What Bux means (I think) is that while you are indeed very close to the train, Sants per-se is not terribly well located in terms of where the interesting things are in Barcelona. The area is not nice to walk either and there's pretty much nothing to see (I would know, I live 8 blocks away, fortunately towards the nicer areas). Moreover, Barcelona is small enough such that if you would need to really get to Sants quick you would still be able to by either subway or an inexpensive taxi ride. Silly.

I'm sure someone else can confirm this, but I think Can Roca's menu is priced around EUR 70, while Santi Santamaria's goes for about EUR 150. Not including wine, etc. Silly.

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned before, but eGulleter Louisa Chu (LKL Chu) writes the fantastic Movable Feast. Silly.

I see Coque has two tasting menues, at 60 and 90 EUR. Does Viridiana offer one? And regarding Coque's, can anyone comment on either/both menues? Is Humanes only accessible by car? if so, how much would a taxi cost approximately? I'm going to Madrid and the wife is allowing me ONE night only for culinary debauchery... so little time, so many restaurants... Silly.

Victor, I should have followed your advise to start with. Alas, because it was close to our place, we went to Yamadori. It was also listed as the oldest Japanese restaurant in BCN, so I thought they couldn't be awful. Well, the service was. We were there for lunch. we ordered two soups, two starters and two sushi or sashimi dishes (I went for sashimi, the wife went for sushi/rolls). For some weird reason, we got one soup (the wife's), then about 10 minutes later we got mine. While I was having the soup, they brought my starter (grilled fish). 5 minutes after that, they brought my wife's (shitake mushrooms with spinach). To follow this weird (at least for me) pattern, while she was having the mushrooms her sushi arrived. And 5 minutes later they brought my sashimi. By that time I was both confused and pissed off, but the waiter wasn't done with surprises. Being 3:30pm (for the non-local readers, lunch here is served usually from 2pm to 4pm, and finishing a lunch at around 4:30 is definitely not unheard of) he asked if we wanted anything else, as the kitchen was about to close. Surprised, I said sure, I'll have a few extra pieces of sashimi, and asked for the menu. I looked at the sushi-a-la-carte section, selected a few things and ordered. The waiter then informed that the section was for sushi, and not sashimi, and I couldn't just order like that. Ok, so what's available as sashimi then, I asked? He didn't know. He offered either Toro or Salmon. I wanted Unagi. He thought they couldnt do sashimi unagi, but they could offer either a "racion" or "media racion" of it. At this point the conversation turned surreal, as I couldn't understand why the local "racion" concept was different from the sashimi pieces I was trying to get, the waiter didn't look particularly interested in catering my request, and I was fairly pissed off. I asked for the check, which took about 10 more minutes (and in the meantime, interestingly enough, 3 new customers arrived and were seated), we paid about 30 EUR a head (definitely not worth what we had had), and left. The food was ok, but nothing to write home about. There were according to my wife 4 waiters for about 10 tables, so they are not particularly understaffed. Next time I'm taking no chances, Satoru Miyano it is. Silly. Yamadori Aribau 68. 93.453.9264

If there's one thing I miss from living in NYC is good sushi. Can anyone recommend a Sushi restaurant in BCN that resembles in quality a mid to high end place in NY? No, I am not expecting Jewel Bako, but at least something above and beyond all you can eat sushi or sushi-chinese-pan asian nonsense. thanks. Silly.

That's a good idea, considering this knife is for instance worth about 2 or 3 good dishwashers. Silly.

Meson David offers quite possibly one of the best value meals in the city, being really good, simple food at very decent prices. And the lechazo is just amazing. I eat there once or twice a month, great place to go with friends. Silly

the wife says yes. Silly

Judith, next time you visit Barcelona, if you have a rental car and are headed for Girona or the Costa Brava you can stop at La Roca Outlet (about 35km outside of BCN I think), and get Campers at handsomely discounted prices. Silly. edited for typos.

Omigod. ← Omigod indeed. Apparently (I'm retelling what my wife has told me), the food is offered as a series of "balls", following their "pelotas" concept, literally balls in Spanish, which is the name of one of the shoe lines. So for instance they have a whole rice and something-or-other ball, a zuchini and potato ball, etc. I promise to take some pictures next time I'm in the area. Silly.

the latter. You can say they have a "theme" in their philosophy, ie recycle not build from scratch, renewable / clean energy and materials, etc. They own a restaurant also in the Raval which offers vegetarian food, I think. Silly.

I know Rutini has a few differences between their export labels and the local Argie ones. They even have a wine for the int'l market called Trumpeter or similar (can't remember exactly, but it was available while I was living in NY). My advise for the ones you've found is if they are not too expensive, buy a couple and try them, they are probably the same ones. Also keep in mind that Bodega La Rural (makers of Rutini) have two labels locally with similar names, "Rutini" being the middle priced one and "Felipe Rutini" being the high-end one. As for BA shops, my favorite one is Terroir, owned by a former stockbroker and wine lover (need to find his card). They have an excellent selection and the sommelier is fairly knowledgeable. There's another good one called Epicureos, good selection but staff is so-so. Good prices as I recall. Another option Winery, but since its a chain of several stores the whole thing might be a bit less personal. I'll be down there in March, so if you haven't made any progress let me know and I'll try to give you a hand. regards, Silly. edited to add more info.