Málaga to Madrid, the long way

[vserna]

Miguel's one-upmanship remains unfathomable to me... and is not borne out by fact, but by some sort of crustacean nationalism. Proclaiming "geographic superiority" is akin to proclaiming any other type of national superiority - not the kind of thing we should be indulging in in 21st century Europe. Want to compete? OK. Let's have a level playing field. Let's have a solid, neutral foodie eat at the best seafood restaurant Portugal can muster and then at Combarro in Madrid - 300 miles inland, BTW. Then let him/her decide what's best. Anything else can be construed as bragadoccio from an interested party.

[MiguelCardoso]

Vserna: accepted. Whereas you're choosing one of Madrid's most expensive restaurants (one which I'm itching to go to as often as I can, as reports from fellow shellfish-lovers here in Lisbon, as well as on eGullet and in the Portuguese and Spanish, are invariably very enthusiastic), I'll happily put forward a cheap seafood shack where the owner's father fishes everything himself on the night before. Or several other sawdust-and-beer cafés owned by working fishermen and their wives who do nothing - and their forefathers nothing else either for centuries and centuries - except boil shellfish and cook cockles and clams.

It's not onemanupship and it's not nationalism: it's complementarity. There are so many great Spanish ingredients and dishes which are simply the best you can get. With many, the Portuguese do try to compete (with the cured ham, for instance) and can't be said to be at a disadvantage in terms of livestock or millenia of know-how. And yet the truth remains that even right across the border, in Jabugo, the ham is far superior, effortlessly almost, to all our best efforts. Geography does matter. And serendipity. And a variety of other factors, like weather - the proper weather to eat certain things.

Rather than propose silly contests (though fun for whoever gets to judge, as he'll get two fantastic seafood orgies!) ask Combarro where their crustaceans come from. Then ask yourself whether in Madrid the fishermen drift in to Combarro's kitchen, minutes after they've hauled their shrimp, langoustines and dozens of other ocean-fresh, 100% alive and kicking fish and take a few enormous containers filled with the cleanest Atlantic seawater in which to cook them.

Asl yourself whether the Madrid climate - and the view - are anything like as appropriate as staring out at the Atlantic Ocean, with a briny, salty breeze seasoning whatever you smell and eat, where all these delicacies have been caught.

You have generously praised so much from Portugal and I, not being nearly as knowledgeable about Spain as you are about Portugal, have shown how passionate I am about Spanish cooking and gastro-culture, in all its vast variety and creativity. Portugal and Spain complement each other. Surely it's absurd to compete. We can have both - and, by jove, we do. I apologize, though, if my tone or somewhat exaggerated style come across as nationalism. I love good food wherever it comes from or wherever I get it - I would never prefer something Portuguese even if it was only slightly less perfect. As I'm sure you wouldn't either!

Edited May 2, 2004 by MiguelCardoso (log)

[Bux]

I´m sure Miguel may say there's even better seafood in Portugal, but it's hard to image anything better than the gambas rojas from around here. The cigalas come in a close second.

Bux: when you come to Portugal and eat live, just-caught, never-been-near-a-tank shellfish, you'll understand. It's not a question of opinion but of geography. The Atlantic coast of Portugal and, to a much lesser extent, of Galicia is where the best shellfish come from. Spain imports a lot of it but the best and the freshest are caught and consumed here, because the Portuguese are prepared to pay more for it.

I'm looking forward to your visit to Portugal as I can see what a lover of seafood you are - by Jove, I'll personally chaperone you and your wife so that you can rid yourself of all these misconceived notions about Spain. Cigalas? Harrumph! When you try a pound-and-a-half "lagostim" just brought in, still covered in seaweed, you'll regret every word! ;)

I wasn't thinking it was opinion or geography, I was just sure of what you'd say. I am sure that when I get to Portugal, I will not be able to compare the seafood there to the gambas from Denia any more than I could compare the gambas in Denia to the crab or prawns I had not fresh, but live, in Tokyo.

[Bux]

Unfortunately, well not really, we've been too busy to get online. We've been eating quite well. The good meals just keep on getting better. El Poblet in Denia was excellent and Ca'Sento here in Valencia was exceptional. If Las Rejas is as good as we remember, this is going to be a memorable week.

It was a memorable week. How could it not have been when we got to visit one of the Mecca's of western gastronomia and eat an authentic arroz con conejo y caracoles cooked in a paella over an open fire. What could be more rewarding other than roast dodo or true bouillabaisse and I think both of those are extinct. Bragging rights in the anglophone world are ours. Judging by what's served as in Madrid, our authority may now extend into the European continent and well over the Pyrenees. It is of course a bit of intellectual snobbery. I have had some excellent slushy yellow rice with well cooked seafood masquerading as paella, that was nonetheless quite tasty, but I will wear the "I have eaten the real thing patch" on my shoulder.

Casa Paco, inland in Pinoso, (a small village north of Murcia and west of Alicante) offers several arrozes with snails, rabbit or vegetable. There's no seafood variety offered, although it's a common variation along the coast. In the Alicante-Valencia region, Paella Valenciana refers to what are apparently the original versions without seafood, although Paco Gandia doesn't use the name "paella" at all on his short menu. At Casa Paco, a paella pan serving two people was about two feet in diameter and the rice was piled maybe three eighths of an inch thick in the high spots when fully cooked. "Fully cooked" was pleasantly al dente. The rabbit was a very small one, chopped up and on the bone. The snails were small and in the shell. The snails added a herbaceous quality to the dish and the rabbit though small was very tasty and nicely browned. I suspect the smoke from the open fires we saw though the kitchen doors added to the flavor of the dish. The rice itself was rich moist, sticky and coated with an glaze undoubtedly as a result of the combination of olive olive and the unctuous quality of the snails.

At lunch the next day, a paella de mariscos on the coast, brought us a pan too full of rice that was nonetheless delicious, but too much to eat and of a lesser texture. The seafood was also a bit overcooked, leading us to the premature prejudice that paella de mariscos is for the tourists. Perhaps not, but the other table having paella was having paella a banda, which is just the rice cooked in an intense seafood broth with perhaps bits of squid and seafood. It is cooked so the outer ring of rice is a darker color then the central circle of rice. This may well be the preferred local way of having seafood rice. Perhaps someone with more experience with paella will expound.

After looking at the menu in Casa Paco, we were still pretty much helpless about what else, or how much more, we should order and put ourselves in the hands of our amiable host who suggested some broiled snails and a salad. The snails, a local treat, were an obvious choice. Although I enjoyed their texture more in context with the rice and rabbit, I was glad for the opportunity to try them alone. The salad wasn't memorable, but it was an excellent choice considering the starch and protein to follow.

For dessert, Mrs. B had a sorbete de cava which turned out to be kind of a lemon wine milkshake. I had a tarta de Santiago—an almond cake traditional to Galicia in the opposite corner of Spain from where we were—that is a favorite of mine. My tarta was okay. I assume Mrs. B's dessert was excellent. After a good portion of rice, this Atkins fan made no effort to share her dessert. Coffee was outstanding. We had short shots that were richly chocolatey as I find in the best Spanish coffee. On the whole, the coffee on this trip was not as rich as I recall from previous trips. I wonder if the coffee is better in the north of Spain.

My expectations of Casa Paco were vague. I suppose I imagined a largish informal and rustic hall with openings to an outdoor area where the rice was cooked over open fires in a rural area apart from other buildings. I was pretty far off the mark except that the paellas were cooked over an open fire, but in a kitchen on a shelf at counter height in a large fireplace. The restaurant, which had tables enough to serve maybe 30 people at most, was a small room in a small town, but in a town in which the low buildings were attached to one another.

Paco Gandia's reputation preceded him so it's worthwhile reporting Mrs. B's conversation with our charming and friendly host who neither said he was, or wasn't, Paco himself. Upon leaving, Mrs. B said she assumed he was not Paco, and in rely to his question continued that it was because he was so amiable and that she heard that Paco was a grouch. She was told that it was only in response to people who arrived with an attitude, wanting him to change his ways. This is a familiar refrain from chefs and restaurateurs. For the record, an online review depicted the only two people we saw serving as Pace Gandia and his wife. I don't know what that says about us, but I guess it's just a case of like people getting along. We were charmed by Paco and Casa Paco with perhaps one exception. It seems a bit expensive, especially considering it's location and style. Maybe it's just that wines I recognized seemed about 15-20% higher here and after choosing three wines at 30 euros that were not in stock, our host recommended a wine that turned out to cost 40 euros.

[Bux]

By and large, we find we are best off eating but one big meal a day and when the big meal is a really long gastronomic tasting menu of many courses, the other meal of the day may fade away to no more than a glass of wine and a snack. Snacking is getting a bit easier in France, but it's still a country that regards the three course meal as the minimally proper way to eat. Spain, on the other hand, is a snacker's paradise. Although the form tapas take seems to vary from region to region, there are few inhabited parts of Spain where one is far from a bar where one can get a decent bit to eat at most times of the day. Another advantage of tapas is that each member of the party may eat as much as or as little as desired. Even though our lunch at Casa Paco wasn't extremely large, we found ourselves with different levels of appetite. Nou Manolin was high on my short list of places to look at in Alicante where we arrived without plans for dinner. Our current appetites really dictate no more than one reservation a day and a day to rest our appetites every now and them.

Our arrival in downtown Alicante was not the most pleasant moment of our trip. What passed for the loading zone for our hotel didn't have a place for us to park. A nasty motorcycle cop, whose demeanor was probably not improved by having to wear so much leather on a hot afternoon, wouldn't let us double park, pull up on the sidewalk or block part of the crosswalk to unload. We eventually successfully fought with a taxi for space in a taxi zone two blocks from the hotel. The taxi parked across the street anyway and when we returned after checking in, all he did was pull over to our side, but blocking the crosswalk rather than taking the space in the taxi zone. A stroll over to the marina and beach which at this time of day was recently deserted, put us in a slightly better frame of mind, but I was still conscious of the burden any restaurant would have in allowing me to leave Alicante with pleasant memories. To the credit of the bar at Nou Manolin, our bartender and the friendly patrons around us, I look forward to returning again.

Perhaps the bar did a better job than a restaurant might have done. Just sitting at a bar stool is a tonic for many of us. The ability to partake of some excellent food is a plus. We were still fatigued by the day's driving, getting lost and the indignity of not being welcomed as desired guest in the city, to think of anything more original to say than "vino blanco, dos copas for favor," when the bartender smiled at us. He suggested a Rueda which had enough flavor to wake up our taste buds and put us in a good mood. Verdejo is rapidly replacing albariño as my favorite white wine grape and although I didn't get a good look at the back label of the bottle, my guess was this was all verdejo and not a blend also permitted to hold title to Rueda D.O. As we weren't intending to eat very much, it seemed unreasonable to consider cost too much of a factor and we started off with a batch of the local gambas rojas a la plancha, which though not inexpensive, are a real bargain compared to what one might get in NYC for that price. If memory serves, they might run about $5 a piece, in prime condition simply prepared in a bar or restaurant, but they are large. We also had some fired fish which were greaseless and as well prepared as we could hope for, but for some reason they didn't send us. A sandwich of jamon put the finishing touches on my appetite and by the time we had a few more glasses of wine, we left Nou Manolin really happy to be in Alicante, but regretting it was to be a one night stand. That proved to be no problem for food sluts like ourselves. El Poblet, in Denia, the next night served food to make you forget the others, at least for a while.

[Bux]

The week of October the 25th, 2004

On his weekly article RGS praises the new Anuario gastronómico de la Comunidad Valenciana by Antonio Vergara, a guide that includes the best restaurants in this comunity being the winners El Poblet in Denia and Ca’ Sento in Valencia and the best places acording to their specialities, ie, rices, fideuas...

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So often as travelers in foreign lands we have to chose between so many recommendations and even then we wonder if there's a little spot waiting to be noticed that we've missed and will hear about as soon as we're home. It's nice once in a while to learn that at least someone thinks you've made the right choices. I may never have paid full service to the fine meals we had at these two restaurants. That's a pity as they both offered memorable food. They easily merit their Michelin star. Rarely are one stars as pleasing in France.

[vserna]

Rarely are one stars as pleasing in France.

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The reason may be that a large number of Spanish 'one-stars' whould be two-star places if located anywhere else in Europe - take Santceloni, Coque, El Bohío or Las Rejas as other examples. In some cases, Spanish one-stars could arguably compete for three-star status elsewhere.

As I've argued many times here, Michelin has this unwritten rule about a cap for awarding stars to the Spanish market that's kept the total number almost unchanged for 20 years, and the overall, marked improvement of the Spanish restaurant scene makes this abusive practice more and more evident with each day that passes.

[Bux]

Rarely are one stars as pleasing in France.

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As I've argued many times here, ...

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I'm not sure that qualifies as an argument, as I've not heard anyone take the other side. Oddly enough, it's Michelin's stinginess in Spain that adds to its reliability. The odds of being disappointed with a Michelin listed restaurnant is much greater in France than in Spain. Where Michelin fails, is in informing the foreign diner about the destination restaurants. With the possible exception of Paris, I can't think of a restaurant with one star that deserves a special trip let alone a long detour. I haven't been to El Bohío, but I've heard great things. I don't think I'd ever insist a restaurant was worth three star on the basis on a single meal, but I have no problem stating that Las Rejas and Coque offered impressive meals and are clearly destination restaurants. What they might lack perhaps, in meeeting the needs of the traveling gastronome, is comfortable place to spend the night. That should not affect the number of stars. It does suggest that I take a lot of my important meals at lunch while traveling in Spain and it dictates that I consume less wine with my meal. I've also been known to pull off the road and take a snooze, if I have any distance to go after lunch.

[vserna]

I'm not sure that qualifies as an argument, as I've not heard anyone take the other side.

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Let's say I'm arguing with Michelin itself, in absentia... :

Oddly enough, it's Michelin's stinginess in Spain that adds to its reliability.

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In a sense, this would be correct, Bux, were it not for one major fact: Michelin's Spanish guide is full of no-star restaurants that should have one star, and in a couple of cases two stars. Not to mention the amazing quantity of top-notch restaurants, some of star quality, that don't even appear in the Michelin España guide!

No, it isn't reliable. It's just stingy.

It even awards stars to a few mediocre restaurants. In such a restrictive context, it's unforgivable!

Edited October 27, 2004 by vserna (log)