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Let me set out my stall right away. I am an enthusiastic amateur living and enjoying cooking and eating out in London. I am new to egullet, and in fact I have never posted a question on a website before, but the forum looks great so here goes. Just got back from a week in and around Barcelona with my girlfriend. We had the most amazing meal at El Raco can Farbes (I cannot rate it highly enough) and in La Boqueria I bought some chorizo. I love chorizo just sliced with some hard cheese but I would love any suggestions that anyone might have for cooking it for friends who are coming on Saturday. Thanks

Unfortunately Espai Sucre was closed, but I did manage to get to, taste, buy and bring back chocolate from Oriol Balaguer's Estudi Xocolada and Cacao Sampaka. Estudi Xocolada is an artisanal producer of exquisitely fine chocolate in a number of varieties. Unlike the other places, it does not serve its chocolate products on site, but we did have an interesting discussion with the pastry chef (not Oriol Balaguer), who offered us samples of chocolates with pop rocks inside. This was some of the most incredible and fun chocolate I have ever eaten. The chocolate was dramy pure dark chocolate, but the pop rocks gave an incredible mouth sensation to go along with the flavor of the chocolate. We bought chocolates and a dessert book (in English) by Balaguer. Cacao Sampaka is located off the Ramblas Catalunya and has a small cafe in adition to the retail Chocolate shop. They have an incredible array of flavors and styles. I sampled the black truffle, which was amazing. I'll report back as I sample some of the others we came home with.

Hi everybody! During a trip in Spain, I had the delicious "Pimientos del Piquillo rellenos de bacalao". Once I came back home, I looked for the recipe and found it on a book I have, but there was an issue...they didn't explain WHAT are pimientos del piquillo, I think because it was a Spanish book. I tried to reproduce the recipe, however, with "normal" red bell peppers, the smallest I could find. I filled them with a bacalao brandade according to the directions and baked them until tender. They were good, but obviously not just what I had in Spain. So, I wonder what are, exactly, pimientos del piquillo. Are they just a special type of pepper (botanically speaking) or are they also cooked and/or preserved in some special way? Is it possible to replace them with other peppers if you cannot find them? Also a good tested recipe for pimientos rellenos de bacalao would be appreciated. TIA! Pongi

Anyone know of any good Spanish (not Hispanic) restaurants in Bergen County area, other than El Cid and Meson Madrid? Thanks.

I just returned from a trip to Lisbon and would like to play around baking some Portuguese pastries. Does anyone know of an english language book of portuguese pastry recipes, or an online source for same?

Whats your favorite tapas?

We're hosting a dinner Friday night as a fundraiser for my daughter's school. My wife and I chose a somewhat Spanish theme so would like to stick with some Spanish wines. Our entree is going to be a roasted white fish of some sort (depends on the fish market but probably halibut or hake or maybe cod) over a bed of roasted potatoes, onions and tomatoes with olives, chorizo and fresh herbs. The fish will be breaded with herbed bread crumbs. The sauce is the juice from the vegetables plus some fish stock and a touch of fino sherry. For appetizers, we'lll have assorted tapas to include ham, chorizo, manchego, spanish frittatta, piquillo peppers stuffed with goat cheese and and maybe sardines. Desserts are at someone else's house. Yeah! I was leaning towards an Albarino to start (Pedro de Soutomaior) and a basic rioja (Caceres) or a Ribera del Duero (Protos Cosecha). I'm not looking to spend a fortune on the wine as I do not believe many will notice the difference anyway. I'd like to keep it in the $10-$15 neighborhood. I'm saving a better bottle to drink while doing the dishes. Your suggestions are appreciated.

I heard a rumor that Iberico ham would soon be available for export. Anyone know when and who in the U.S. might carry it?

I'm thinking of having a dinner party based around tapas. The recipe books I've seen haven't been that inspiring and a search on the internet hasn't thrown much up. One guest is vegetarian so any suggestions would be great....

Any recommendations for retail outlets in Manhattan with a good selection of Spanish wines?

a friend heard from some guy that this place called Galecia or something is really good. it's in newark. it's spanish. but i can't find any info (address, spelling, etc.) does this ring a bell with anyone? thanks.

Speaking with Michael, I emailed him a link I found with Spanish Pastry chefs and some examples of their work. It happens to be in all in spanish, so if someone could translate some of the key words and phrases I think it would be more helpful. Ofcourse Albert Adria is there, so is Oriol Balaguer and Frederic Bau Take a look http://www.vilbo.com/secciones_saberysabor...es/postres.html

A short visit to my Brother-in-Law outside Madrid got me to a fine Cheese Store in Madrid. They not only advise (Spanish only) but let you taste as much as you want and can handle. I purchased five different cheeses: Garrotxa, Idiazabel, Manchego, Zamorano (Toro) and another, forgot name. Each piece weighed appr. 1.5 kilo, with an average price of 15.00 Euro per kilo. After wrapping in the appropriate 'Cheese Paper', they vacuum sealed each piece in a very heavy duty plastic for travel and preservation. No charge!. I had all these cheeses plus some canned Ventresca Tuna and my favorit "elxillo" Anchovies in a suitcase with clothes. I declared on my customs form all to what they were, and did not have to open any suitcase at Logan/Boston. The place in Madrid is: Jamoneria - Carniceria - Quesos "Bruselas", Avenida de Bruselas 49, Tel: 913-567-498, Something else, here is a good web site for Spanish Cheeses: http://www.cheesefromspain.com/CFS/Guide/C...hestabInd_I.htm

I'm going to cook a paella for a group this weekend (chicken, shrimp and chorizo), and I'll be following a recipe that was printed in the NYT about 2 years ago. It calls for 1/2 pound of chorizo, "peeled and into small cubes", and in the cooking process it is sauteed until "warmed through". Today I went and bought some fresh chorizo from a Spanish market, it is in a natural casing and is obviously totally raw. But the more I read the recipe, I think it implies the use of cured chorizo. Any thoughts? Will the dish still be good if I use the crumbled fresh instead?

One of my most favorite dishes in all of Spanish cuisine is the humble Tortilla de Patatas. While we've had some valiant attempts at making authentic ones at home, I fail to be able to reproduce the kind of results we get at our favorite Spanish restaurants in the US and that I've had abroad. Sure, its a simple dish, but its not just the sum of its parts. Whenever we try it the eggs get overcooked, we seem to use too much olive oil, or the potatoes have the wrong texture. Or it tastes fine but the whole damn thing falls apart. Theres a good (and really funny) multimedia web site called Mundo Tortilla which I discovered a few years back (and posted originally about on CH) thats dedicated to the humble dish, but it falls short on tips and techniques for the perfect tortiila. Anybody?

Our revered founder has graced us with a tasting of Spanish brandies. Please enjoy. +++ Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

I have always recommended Spanish Sangria to friends as being one of the better Spanish/Portuguese restaurants in Newark. After our experience last night I am reluctant to return to this restaurant. Food was good, service poor and the smoke was intolerable. We ordered sangria when seated which was very weak--certainly not worth having. We waited over 10 minutes for a waiter to take our order which surprised us as the restaurant was barely filled. It never filled up which is unusual on a Saturday night. We had chicken noodle soup which comes with dinner. I prefer the bean/kale soup that is sometimes served. Then we shared wonderful garlic mushrooms. For entrees I had red snapper and Lowell had broiled short ribs. Both came with the addictive Spanish potatoes. We arrived at 7 and our entrée came after 8. By 9 after we waited to be asked if we wanted coffee and dessert for over 15 minutes we just asked for our check and left. Spanish Sangria does not have a non-smoking dining room. However with three dining rooms I don't understand why one can't be made smoke free. The manager told me the owner wants to allow smoking in all of the rooms. It's been so long since I have been in a "smoking allowed" restaurant I forgot how nauseating the smoke can be. There were two men smoking cigars and the other four tables that were filled had cigarette smokers. So between the smoke and slooooooooooooow service I am looking for a new favorite besides Casa Vasca.

Other than a few dalliances with Vega Sicilia Unico and sherry - my knowledge of Spanish wine is weak. I'm attending a dinner featuring wines by "Compania Vinicola del Norte de Espana" (CUNE) - Does anyone have any info?? Specifically vintages or special bottlings to look for? Thanks

I was just doing a search on Oriol Balaguer and it came up that he was opening this place which is a chocolate studio, I think. Any info?

Have any of you folks been to this new shop or is it not open yet? Any info would be greatly appreciated! thank you

I'm looking for good suggestions for dinner along the lines of Spanish/Latino fare in Boston. I really don't know what sort of scene Boston has for this, because the only experience I had previously was a Mexican restaurant in Chelsea with an entertaining atmosphere, but mediocre food. This time around I'm considering Dali, but I'm not positive it's really what I want, so I decided I'd go fishing here for any other suggestions. Also, someone mentioned on another thread that Dali has (had?) a sister restaurant on Newbury Street, but I can't find any mention of it on their website. My friends should be alright with a price range of around $15-$25 for entrees. My main desires are a diverse and hopefully interesting menu with well-executed food, be it Spanish, Cuban, Argentinian, Portugeuse, Mexican, or what-have-you.

This evening, my friends Michael and Elizabeth and I were sharing a bottle of albariño (Martín Codax--excellent), and the conversation quite naturally turned to favorite food experiences in Spain. We all quickly agreed how marvelous that wine would be with some pimientos de padrón, those tiny green peppers from Galicia, about a bite each (and of which about one in ten are hot!), fried in olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt, served as tapas throughout the country. They seem to be catching on in some areas here, but I have never seen them for sale in NYC. I must admit I haven't done an exhaustive search, but I would have definitely noticed them if they were lying around. Do they ever show up at Fairway? The Green Market? An internet search turns up a grower in Northern California that sells them, and the the Spanish internet food site La Tienda will ship them to you for 25 DOLLARS A POUND!! (I think not...) Suggestions, anyone?

What makes an authentic paella? Does a paella have to be cooked in a special pan? (There is one, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment.) How varied are paellas compared to risotto? What kind of image is conjured up for you when you think about or hear about paella? For me, there is paella valenciana (the traditional kind incorporating chicken, pork, shellfish and vegetables) and a vegetarian paella. I have made recipes which were a blurring of lines between paella and risotto. What are your favorite kinds and recipes? Discuss...

Hello Everyone, I am taking this time to reintroduce myself to Egulleteers, now on the Spanish message board (thank God that the Spanish keyboards are more similar to American keyboards than the French) to inform everyone that I have made the transition from France to Spain, or from Provence to Cataluna to be more exact. Yes, I finally decided to pack up my now considerable belongings and see for myself where all the hype of the new Spanish Culinaria is coming from. No I am not at El Bulli, even though one day I might end up being a dead cat (you know what curiosity--anyway) but decided to go for the more "grounded" cuisine of Santi Santamaria at El Raco de Can Fabes. Thanks, in part, to Mr. Buxbaum, to what many of you have written about Spain and its emergence as a culinary tour de force, and to an old colleague/sommelier from my first year at L'Oustau de Baumaniere who now works for Chef Santamaria, I decided to make a reservation at El Raco de Can Fabes. In my last post, Staggaire´s Story, some two years ago on the French message board, I was at the beginning of my culinary odyssey at the highly acclaimed, L'Oustau de Baumaniere, a once three but now two Michelined starred Provencal restaurant. In brief, I had read numerous books on becoming a chef stating the importance of grounding oneself as a cook in French technique, so I discussed this possiblility of doing a stage in France with my chef at the time, Wolfgang Puck. The story still exists to my knowledge on the French board, archived probably somewhere two years ago for those interested. Initially, I was supposed to stay for a short stage (pronounced the French way with a soft "a") for a month but the short stage turned into a 26 month job to which I ended up working as demi chef de partie (not going into the French Brigade system) in both Rotisserie and Garde Manger. In short, I advanced as high as an American staggaire could advance without taking over a "real" title. I wasn´t paid handsomely for my toil, nor was I ever embraced within the organization (not saying their was an anti-American sentiment--just that I wasn´t French), but what I experienced and learned, I feel to be invaluable. In the end, I had a very comforatable life in Provence, with many advantages and benefits, but I knew that it was time to move on. So with a higher appreciation for Provencal cuisine, wine and life (all pretty much synonomous), I decided I wanted to see the bigger picture of French cuisine. So, I asked the owner of Baumaniere, Jean Andre Charial, for assistance in placing me into one of the many Parisian starred restaurants (Pierre Gagnaire being at the head). He responded by saying he would try and then I waited and waited and waited--to no reponse. Later when I wore out all patience, I asked him the possiblility of working in a three star in Paris to which he replied--en bref, je ne pouvais pas t'aider. The problem was I wasn´t European. That is exactly when I took matters into my own hand and initiated a new game plan. First, I would mail out a curriculum vitae to all the restaurants I wanted to work at, then follow up with a personal visit to all the restaurants and then if necessary beg and plead. All this was unneccessary in the end, when by chance an old acquaintance/colleague now close friend showed up at Baumaniere and mentioned he was working for a three star in Spain. My eyes lit up and so we got to talking and more talking...to which it was settled, I would eat there and present myself. We made a reservation and thus the process was set in motion. I talked a friend, another sommelier from Baumaniere, into driving down and joining me to eat at Can Fabes. I think the conversation went something like, "hey there's a three star next to Barcelona, do you want to go" to which he responded "Barcelona, three star, party %&$/ yeah! You need to take off an extra two days" Well obviously the meal itself was extraordinary and with some interesting Spainish wines, a Gramada white and Penedes red, I was sold. The only real problem, apart from actually getting a chance to work there, was apart from some of the more--lets say inappropriate language I learned from the many Mexican cooks back in Santa Monica, I didn´t know a word of Spanish. That was OK by me and perfect revenge for my eventual return--now I will know what those guys are saying to me behind my back. Who am I kidding, it was never behind my back but straight to my face. Luckily Santi Santamaria speaks French and we discussed my background and such for a brief minute and that was it. I didn't hear back from them for what seemed an eternity. Basically I gave up hope and was planning to stay the rest of the season, til the end of December at Baumaniere (it being the beginning of June), and during their annual closure (January and February), make my assault on Paris. Fine, that will buy me time, I thought til one day out of the blue some three months after we had dined there, I get a call from Javier Torres, head chef at Can Fabes with not only a job proposal but a real position (chef de partie--something unattainable at Baumaniere) and a real salary. I obviously grew very excitied and maybe prematurely called everyone about the news. Well after a month of not hearing from them and then hearing from the chef but with nothing definitive, I conitinued to do what I was all too tired of doing--wait. In this time, I started to wonder--well they know I'm American, they know I don´t know how to speak Spanish, they know I was never a chef de partie in a three star restaurant--this is just too good to be true. Well eventually before my grand depart, we hatched out some details--well one, my start date--Sept. 30-- the rest was up in the air. I knew lodging would be provided, what I didn´t know was that I would share a room a bit larger than the one I had at Baumaniere (where I was living single) with not one but two other cooks--who have both since left. I have an empty bunkbed to look at when I wake up now. I knew I would be fed one meal a day. What I wasn´t prepared for was the 14 hoer work days which ended in scrubbing the kitchen from figurative head to toe, the overworked cooking staff who threaten to and then actually quit without notice, the relentless amount of tedious repetition necessary in achieving consistency in the upper echelons of fine dining followed up with more attentiveness to details, details, details. Yes, I am now chef de partie, garde manger, but for the last month I worked like a staggaire with chef de partie responsiblities. That is to say, there is nothing beneath me in terms of what is required of me. If I need to deshell 15 kilos of buy de mar (crab) and make sure there isn´t a milligram of shell in the final process, I need to do that. I don´t know if any of you have done this before, but in short, its a pain in the ass. Ask me to deshell five kilos of shrimp everyday, thats fine, but deshelling--index finger by index finger of every gram of meat--doing it again-- and then again--five solid hours is fairly torturous. I remember writing in my last post about my Baumaniere hell week (basically a week without my chef de partie--who was in the US at the time-- which had me working 14 hour days)--well I just signed up for a hell year. I did this in my last post--a shameful plea for pity. Well there is no looking back so to speak. Again, not to make things sound worse than they are for cinematic affect, I work like a dog for around 75-80 hours a week just to say I worked in a three star restaurant. One might ask, "well are you learning at least", to which I have to smile a sardonic, contemptuous smile and say, "I'm learning a lot" but what I really want to say is "I'm learning to work and work hard." I think in the end that is the difference between great restaurants and good restaurants. We could call it quits after lets say the tenth hour and have satisfactory results. I would honestly say that half the customers would hardly notice the difference, but we don´t quit . We could call it quits after the twelth hour and none but a few of the customers would notice the difference, but we don't because we, the people in the kitchen, know the difference. I think this is of vital importance. Before, I asked, "is it really necessary to do _____, noone will know the difference" but every effort in the kitchen is noticeable, even if it is only incremental. Someone kick me off my soapbox for heaven´s sakes. Of course, I am here for the same reasons many of you come here for--the search for quality. Its here and here in abundance. I have never seen so many mushroom hunters come in with prized "oy de reys", cepes (with heads so dark and bodys so heavy) and many varieties I´ve never seen before--it raining about everyday now, definately paying the price for the heat wave of the past summer. The produce is excellent, coming either from our weekly run to France or from the numerous farmers, ranchers and food artisans from the region. I love working with all the fresh seafood and the suckling pigs, beef...well basically everything we get is incredible. Although the hours are long, and this is where I do my customary about face, I love what I'm doing here. It is worth the price. At least I can say I work long tedious hours along side with Santi Santamaria--he being infatigable as well. As far as my opinion of Santi Santamaria--I am falling in love with the man. He is generous to a fault (mis en place takes big hits), and absolutely unfaltering in his pursuit for perfection. An absolute pleasure to work for, even if he has his darker moments--naturally. I just hope some of his passion for eating and living rubs off on me. I would like to take this opportunity to thank eGullet again and to Robert Buxbaum again for organizing such a gell informed site. I live for this kind of stuff and although I seem to be longwinded in my account of personal events, I hope it gives some insight into the "other side" of restaurant life. Being an English major, I always ponder the bigger questions of dining, such as a wonderful article about deconstructionism and El Bulli. The last time I spoke to an old professor at UCLA, I asked, definately ignorantly, what seems to be the next thing after post modernism (the reinvention of the classic) and are we seeing signs of a Hegelian thesis, antithesis to synthesis pursuit towards "zeitgeist" (seems very foolish in hindsight) and he responded by saying there seems to be something seen as postcolonialism. Just to get a head start on new restaurant trends, I am wondering, the more and more food attains the level of art instead of craft, can we take modern discourses of art and apply them to trends in restaurants? That is, are such discourses driving influence in fine dining? It seems to be one way in analyzing what Ferran Adria is doing and thus the following trend he has caused? I am sure this subject has been done to death already, but if there is a new era of postcolonialism, does that mean that a new trend for restaurants is to revert back to more "traditional" values and although we cannot discount the effects of multicultural "fusion" we need to pay more heed to the colonized and less to the colonial powers? Last thing on this mental self pleasuring exercise, what restaurants do some of you see in my future? If one were to open a quintessential California restaurant, one would hope to have Mediterranean influences, Asian influences and of course exposure to other Californian/Pacific Coast restaurants, but what other restaurant, region would round off my culinary career? Pierre Gagnaire? Tuscany? Piedmont? Pais Vasco? Will be looking in anxiously, Simon

Just as I was thinking of going to Meigas, I see it has closed. I can’t seem to find decent Spanish food in Manhattan. El Cid does pretty good tapas, at least they did a while back. Last w/end went to Riazor, 245 W 16, and it was dull bordering on the unpleasant. The stripe stew had something going for it as unlike the other dishes it had flavor. Chorizo appetizer didn’t have that delicious depth of flavor that even supermarket chorizo has, the paella was mushy and underseasoned and when I asked my husband how his pork with potato salad was he answered by shrugging his shoulders, so I didn’t ask for a bite of that. I’ve been to El Faro, and Spain….say no more. And why are these Spanish restaurants so grim looking? Do the owners think we expect the docor found in Goya's paintings of witches to make believe we are in Spain? So, where to go? Do I really have to leave Manhattan? PS: Newark is on my list for Portuguese.