Paco Meralgo

[jesteinf]

On our trip to Spain, we spent 5 nights in Barcelona. Our lunches (with a couple of exceptions) were mainly eaten on the go, but I planned our dinners carefully.

Probably my favorite dinner was at Paco Meralgo.

Paco Meralgo is an upscale tapas restaurant, and one of the few restaurants in town open for dinner on Sundays. The atmosphere is sort of diner-esque, with waiters yelling at the kitchen and each other. The food, though, rises well above diner level (the restaurant actually reminded me a lot of Avec here in Chicago).

We started our dinner with a couple of steak tartars served on toast. The tartar was outstanding and a great way to start the meal.

The rest of the meal I snapped pictures of...

Cod salad with tomato and olive oil - The cod, I believe, was raw which emphasized just how fresh and high quality the fish was. The tomatoes, olives, and olive oil all worked to bring the fish together. Very light, very refreshing.

Jamon - Ah, the obligatory plate of jamon. I believe this was bellota, but we at so much ham while in Spain I can't be sure. This jamon was as good as any we had. With a better camera, I could have gotten some absolutely filthy ham-porn shots. The fat literally melted in my mouth.

Razor clams - We at almost as many razor clams as jamon. These were fine specimens, plump and briny. Like much of the seafood at Paco Meralgo, a very simple prep (grilled with olive oil, lemon, and some salt).

Squid with white beans - I had no idea how good the squid was going to be over there. Everyplace we got squid it was tender and delicious. This dish was no exception. I'm not really fond of beans, but the beans in this dish were quite good.

Oysters - Not sure what kind of oysters these were but they were delicious. Not sure if the picture shows it well, but the amount of liquor in the oyster was most impressive.

Foie on toast - Big hunk of seared foie gras on toast. Rich, fatty, wonderful.

"French toast" - I can't remember exactly how this was listed on the menu, but it is Paco Meralgo's version of french toast. A good, not overly sweet dessert (even my wife liked it and she's no dessert fan).

Fresh cherries - It takes an enormous amount of confidence in the quality of your products to serve this as a dessert. These cherries tasted like they could have come of the tree minutes ago. They were plump, sweet, just a bit tart, and like no cherries I've ever tasted in the US.

Along with a nice bottle of Spanish white this meal came to all of 87 Euros. The current exchange rate makes the price a little less reasonable, but given the quality of everything we ate, this was probably the biggest bargain of all of the dinners that we had. Of all of the restaurants we went to for dinner (more posts coming), Paco Meralgo is probably the only one that I would consider going back to.

Paco Meralgo

http://www.pacomeralgo.com

Carrer de Muntaner 171

08036 Barcelona, Spain

+34 934 309 027