docsconz

Hi, I will be going to Spain in early October. This is my tentative food itinerary for barcelona. I'm looking for *great* food w. a balance bet splurge & value, modern & traditional. Since sightseeing is as important as food...so I can't do any day trips for food only. **Please provide your critique & suggestions Day 1 - Wed Lunch - Boqueria Market - Bar Quim? Pinotxo? Dinner - Cinc Sentits Day 2 - Thur Lunch - Quimet y Quimet Dinner - Abac Day 3 - Fri Lunch - El Suquet de l’Almirall ? Dinner - La Paradeta? Day 4 - Sat Breakfast - Pinotxo? Day Trip to Monserrat Dinner - Llar del’all I Oli (in Badalona) btw: How is Sauc? thanks in advance, ChowAlf ← This looks like a pretty good itinerary. Another possibility would be Kiosk Universal in the Boqueria for excellent simply grilled seafood. I particularly enjoyed their sardines and razor clams. How will you be getting to Montserrat. If by car, I would suggest lunch or dinner at Aligue in nearby Manresa. If you can swing it, I would suggest a day trip for lunch at one of the Michelin 2 or 3 star restaurants such as Sant Pau, Can Roca or Can Fabes. They really are worth it. and there are plenty of sights to see along the way Don't forget to hit up some Barcelona chocolate places. Despite what Silly D said abaove, Cacao Sampaka is still head and shoulders above most of what you are likely to have experienced. Oriol Balaguer is a great, but less set up for a visit.

I received what is likely to be my last shipment of the season of peaches from Frog Hollow today. They are "Summerset" peaches and are billed by FHF as "cosmetically challenged" and easily bruised. They are, however, quite possibly the best peaches yet. The acid/sugar balance is incredible and the pure peach flavor amazing.

Chef Secich is no longer cooking at Erlowest. Further info to come.

Poilane and 3 cheeses from Alain Quatrehomme, 9, rue du Poteau in the 18th, the website incorrectly still gives ownership to Sté Cyril; fresh goat from the bio Naturale shop a bit north-east on the Rue du Poteau. ← Thanks, again!

You said it all!

Great. Thanks, everyone. BTW, not to be crass, but I'm figuring about $300 per person for the tour and wine pairing? ← That should be about right before tax and tip.

My wife and I split a pairing with the tour. It was perfect. I strongly feel that this is the way to go at this restaurant if at all possible.

One of the things I was hoping to do in Paris was a grand chocolate tour and comparison. While I tried as much as I could, I couldn't come at all close to doing what I wanted. This was due to a combination of not enough time, not enough stomach and two too little legs. The only drawback of having our 6y/o for this trip was that we were unable to walk as much as we would have liked, as he had a hard time keeping up. As such this limited how much ground we could cover. Nevertheless we managed to sample a variety of items from places such as J.P. Hevin (chocolate, various chocolate desserts and macaroons), Pierre Herme (Ms. Gla-Gla's and a fabulous chocolate cake), Berthillon (disappointing this time - the fraise de bois was lacking texturally - I suspect that it wasn't particularly fresh), Gerard Mulot (not enough chocolate in the pain au chocolat) and Delicabar (desserts better than lunch, although that wasn't bad). Pierre Marcolini wasn'y yet open the several times we walked past. We simply couldn't get to the rest or were just too full if in the area (e.g. Laduree). The cheese we bought from Marie-Ann Cantin was superb. Talk about a kid in a candy store. That is a beautiful shop. We bought a St. Marcellin, an epoisse, an artisanal roquefort, brie and a couple other goat cheeses. all were excellent. Of note when I went to pick up a cheese, the attendant stopped me, felt it and then selected another. Othe cheeses supplied by John Talbott were equally delicious. Unfortunately, I am not sure where they were from. Bread from Max Poilane was also excellent.

Wow, super report, John! When did you manage to get all this eating in? It sounds as if your meal at GRG was better than mine at PG. It was certainly priced better. The other restaurant descriptions not to mention those that I couldn't get to, make me really wish I was still there.

Thank you Alex for adding your impressions of Le Villaret. Our meals sound very similar. I believe you are right about the seiche. This really is very good simple French food.

I personally have had a great summer, but this was almost completely ruined when I recently found out that Chef Matthew Secich and his wife will be leaving Erlowest at the end of this month. The restaurant will continue under a different format. I am not sure where Chef Secich is headed at this time. Possibilities include Texas or Wyoming. I just hope that his new location is easily accessible for me! Wherever, I wish him and his family only the best.

Precisely. One has a little fork and simply picks them out of the shell, discarding the hard covering piece.

It is. There are other topics on this. I started a new one because as far as I could tell this is the first with photos.

We had dinner at Le Villaret on our last night in Paris. It was an easy walk from our apartment. It is a lovely neighborhood restaurant with excellent food. We had an amuse bouche of a lobster soup that was lip-smackingly delicious. My 6y/o had a mussel soup for his dinner that he enjoyed very much (and so did I) For entrees my wife had a squid dish which she liked very much, while I had stuffed zucchini blossoms that surprisingly were relatively bland. Our two eldest sons had steaks for dinner. My wife had a grilled tuna and I had duck with green pommes puree. The duck wass excellent. My six y/o enjoyed it so much I could hardly get a bite in edgewise! I guess turnabout is fair play. We drank a nice simple burgundy. This was a nice way to end our lovely sojourn in Paris. My duck:

I will reiterate my previous recommendation of Aligue in Manresa. It was worth a trip last year. The cooking was excellent - creative but based upon traditional recipes. While it unfortunately couldn't work for The Viking, Carme Ruscalleda's Sant Pau was superb when I dined there. It is also easily within rail commuter distance from Barcelona. Indeed the train runs right in front of the restaurant. I would think that would suit your request quite well, Raisa.

There were three restaurants that I specifically wanted to try to get to during our three nights stay in Roses. El Bulli was the reason for this leg of our trip and we had our reservation in hand for Sunday night the 28th of August. That left us two other evenings and/or afternoons to work with. Last year I missed our group’s dinner at El Celler de Can Roca, so this was on my list. Unfortunately we were arriving too late on Saturday and they would be closed on the Monday so once again I would miss out on this restaurant. My other “must” restaurant was Rafa’s in Roses. Fortunately, they would be open Monday night. We made a reservation and went with our Catalan friends. The restaurant appears to be the polar opposite of El Bulli. Where that is located in a beautiful location out of the way on the beach at Cala Montjoi, Rafa’s is located on a little street in the heart of Roses. While El Bulli is the ultimate in manipulation, Rafa’s is the ultimate in simple but good preparation. Similarities abound too, however. Both restaurants are relaxed and unpretentious and both use the local cuisine as the basis for their gastronomic endeavors. Upon stepping into the small restaurant, we were greeted with views of pristine seafood in a refrigerated glass display case. This is situated directly in front of the small kitchen area Since it was a beautiful evening, we selected a table outside in front of the restaurant. I asked Sr. Rafa to prepare for us whatever he thought was best. To my surprise given that this restaurant is all about seafood, he started us out with jamon de la pata negra and pam amb tomaquet (bread with tomato). Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised since this is Spain and I should have known better. The ham was of excellent quality and this bread dish is always good. Next up we started with the best-cured anchovies I have ever had. Normally I prefer my anchovies as flavor enhancers rather than as the primary ingredient, but these were exceptional served with more bread and tomato as well as the olive oil from the anchovy dish. The most perfectly grilled squid that I could imagine followed. I love squid and this was so tender and flavorful I could have just eaten these all night. Grilled sepia followed. These were also excellent, but I learned the hard way to remove the hard shell. Interestingly, my first impression was that these were charred too much. They weren’t. It just happened to be the texture and flavor of the shell. Simply prepare langoustines were brought out next. I had never eaten them in this fashion before. They were succulent. Rafa had a beautiful piece of fresh tuna in his case. He used it to prepare two different dishes for us. He sliced thin pieces that resembled veal cutlets and grilled them with olive oil. These were good, but not the highlight of the evening. The other preparation had thicker pieces cooked on the stove in butter. They were seared on the outside and raw inside. These were quite tasty indeed. Aside from the squid, my other standout came next. He grilled a perfectly seasoned San Pedro fish so that the meat was exquisitely moist and flavorful. I was fortunate to be bequeathed the ventresca and cheeks. The latter were particularly incredible. We finished the evening with whelks with vinaigrette. These were a bit of an afterthought, but I had never had them before. These too were quite good, but by this time we were getting quite full. The wines we had were all delicious Spanish whites including an albarino and a local perellada. They worked beautifully with the cuisine. We didn’t have dessert, but I had to pay my respects and thanks once again to Sr. Rafa.

I'll second the mention of Culinaria: Italy. Their other books are good also.

If you do wind up there, I for one would love to hear all about it. Good luck whichever way it turns out!

It's good to get a handle again on you, Ore. You have provided all of us as well as yourself with a wonderful experience. Thanks.

...what will you do? The lack of specific answers belies a lack of specific knowledge. This is still such a new program. Based upon what I have read here, it would seem that it is obviously not for the aspiring chef, but more for a person interested in the academic or literary side of gastronomy. My experience with Slow Food is that they do things well. For what this is it probably is being done well, although it remains very early in its evolutionary process. Good luck!

That list is great recognition. I'm surprised about some of the names that areonly on honorable mention. Impressive.

I was going to ask the same question. Your trip reminds me of the one my wife and I took to Spain last year with the CIA - plenty of behind the scenes action.

I still have a few more experiences to share As for ala carte vs. tasting menus, this discussion provides a few interesting viewpoints including my own. I personally like tasting menus, especially in restaurants I can get to only infrequently at best. Wine prices run the gamut. One can spend a lot for high end wines, but even in the best restaurants one can find good bottles at decent prices. My preference in Europe is to drink the lesser known, food friendly regional wines. In France I particularly enjoy drinking the wines of the Loire. I also talk to the sommalier about good less expensive burgundies. This approach has suited me quite well.

I like that fact that soapstone is not in every other kitchen.

Hey folks, per the eGullet policy, if anyone wants to start or sponsor an event we can work it out. If simple get togethers are the order of the day, arrangements will need to be made either by PM or email. Either way works, but this thread can no longer be used for organization of personal get togethers. I would suggest that this thread be used for reporting on tastes of the Hudson Valley. If it cannot evolve into that soon, it will need to be deleted.