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I had lunch at Arzak yesterday. It was probably the best and certainly the most creative meal of our trip, which included many great and creative meals. I will also confirm unnecessarily the informal attire of Spanish dining. I´m sorry that I brought any more formal clothes. I just returned from an afternoon of fresh grilled fish in Getaria - a nice contrast to all the haute cuisine.

Simon, I will look for you tomorrow. Victor, after Abac and Sant Pau, I now understand where you are coming from. Aligue is indeed excellent, but Abac and Sant Pau are both exceptional. Robert, My wife and I are part of a small group through the Culinary Institute of America. We are led by Michael Coon and Nancy Harmon Jenkins. It is absolutely first class. We are having a lot of fun. I am expecting a few new eGullet members at the end of the trip. I will post details and photos of our experiences on separate threads after I arrive home. I still have a lot more to go. I had a nice visit with BCNChef at Cinc Sentits tonight. Details again will follow on a separate thread.

Victor, I have to think that the reason this restaurant has no Michelin stars is because it is not a particularly fancy or luxurious restaurant, at least as far as ambiance and service, both of which are still very good, however. Those aspects are just not on a par with the very top restaurants. The food was IMO exceptional even as compared to previous Catalan experiences at Can Boix, Alkimia and Hispania. It so far has been the best meal I have had in Spain - ever. I will post more extensively including some photos after I return home. The above being said, the real tests are about to begin. Tonight we go to Abac. Tomorrow Sant Pau for lunch and then Cinc Sentits for dinner (I will be hurting tomorrow night when I get to bed ). Wednesday Can Fabes, then Can Roca on Thursday before we head to San Sebastian. We had a lovely day today in the Priorato with visits to two wineries - Josep Puig's Vinedos de Ithaca, where he and his daughter make a number of wines including Odysseus and then to Masia Duch, where we tasted a number of excellent wines including barrel samples and had a delightful lunch o0f traditional Catalan dishes including white and black butifarra, llonganissa, coca, esqueixada, escalibada, guinea fowl and merge blanc, an almond milk pudding. The wines were 1998 Bressol and El Tancat, both delicious. It was a marvellous weekend in Barcelona as we stumbled upon one of their big holidays - El Merce', which also happeneed to coincide with the end of The Forum, a major international cultural exchange. Particular highlights included witnessing the human ladders The Castellers, sardanas and the most amazing fireworks display set to music last night over the Barcelona Harbor. Last nights dinner consisted of various Tapas including perfectly fried shrimp, jamon de la pata negra, Cecina and various other delights.

Pamela, I would like to extend the thanks of myself and all of us for your time, effort and knowledge that you so ably gave us for this Q&A. We certainly hope to see many more of your well-informed posts in the future.

I arrived in Catalunya this morning after an overnight flight. we were picked up at the airport by some local friends who brought us to their house in Manresa to freshen up then brought us to their favorite local restaurant, Aligue with Chef Bembi Aligue, described as an associate and protege of Ferran Adria and a significant chef in his own right, highly regarded in Catalunya. I can't recall having seen this restaurant mentioned before on eGullet and I don't understand why. It was an exceptional start to our trip and has set the bar high. I will provide details including photos at a later date. Some highlights amongst many (about 15 different dishes) included fresh warm clam with a white bean puree, cold foie gras with fig sauce (amazing!), lobo del mar with local mushrooms, the best trotters and veal marrow I've ever had, and veal leg cooked sous vide and served with a port based sauce that tasted like it had maple syrup in it. It didn't. More to come.

This new thread popped up on the Italy and Italian food forum. Any thoughts?

David, FWIW, I'll be posting my Catalan and Basque experiences ina couple of weeks. I am very much looking forward to visiting Cinc Sentits amongst other restaurants.

I heard recently that a lot of so-called parmigiano is actually made in Spain and sold as Parmigiano. Do you know if there is any basis to that?

The problem I have with knockoffs, in general, if they are of lesser quality is that they can give the real thing a bad rap. I know when I first really tasted aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena last year it was a revelation and really nothing like the supermarket plonk. The 100y/o stuff at Acetaia del Cristo was absolutely divine.

Beautiful! I can attest they also make great reading and are extremely user friendly with excellent recipes.

My favorite has always been hazelnut. Unfortunately I didn't have an ice cream maker when I brought back hazelnuts from Campania last year. Most of the ice creams I've read talk about letting the ice cream "set" before eating it. Pamela, any comments?

Does any of your oil get old? Ifso, what do you do with it? Do you use it? For what? Throw it out? At what point is it considered unusable?

Given the discussion on "white balsamic vinegar", are there knockoff artisanal products that you like? Infuriate you? Are ok?

Best wishes, Craig.

Try this thread for a good discussion on places in the Catalan Pyrenees. I am looking forward to a visit to Cinc Sentits myself next week. I will report back on there and my other experiences.

Sounds good on both counts!

I can't wait! I'd love to learn from the master.

Thanks for th info, Kim. Alas, I will be away. It does sound wonderful.

theinnaterlowest.com is the website, which doesn't do justice to the food. By the sound of the discourse on your restaurant and cooking, and having gotten to know Chef Secich a little secondary to my frequent visits, I would venture that the interest would certainly be mutual. On a separate note, I will be dining in Manresa on Saturday - the city in Catalunya (unless I get in off the wait list to El Bulli). Someday, when I get out to California again, Manresa, the restaurant will be high on my list to visit.

Sounds great. I once did a similar dinner at The Four Seasons with Brunelli that spanned a number of vintages including '97's that were young at the time. They also do a number of different wine dinners that are a lot of fun. Unfortunately, they have become a lot more pricey over time. Their Fete du Bordeaux dinner featuring the wines of Cos d'Estournel amongst others is set for late October, I believe. A number of well-known Bordeaux Proprietors will be in attendance. Let us know if you hear of others before they occur With enough advance planning it might be doable and certainly fun.

I actually beat American Express to a reservation when they first started taking them last winter. You might have a better chance now with them doing the leg work.

Pamela, Many of the great artisanal products of Italy that you have written about were relatively unknown outside of their regions until relatively recently. It wasn't that long ago that balsamico, culatello, mozzarella di bufala and other products were in that boat. Do you see any great products still in that boat or are all the truly great ones already well known. Certainly Slow Food has done a lot to promote many of the lesser known traditional products.

Nice to have you back, Ore. Once again, your writing and photos do nothing but whet my appetite for more! I am curious about the fried tomato skin with the tuna. Does it have any culinary value beside the fact that it is pretty as depicted on the plate? It is certainly not intuitive, although the tomatoes from that general area are fantastic- my personal favorites being the pomodorini del Vesuvio.

Welcome to eGullet, Walkamalfi! I presume you live in that area. Whether or not you do, I look forward to reading more insights from you on that area as well as other topics. You are absolutely right about the train from Naples to Sorrento. It is pretty easy to use and a good way of getting around to places like Pompeii, Herculaneum and other points in between.