"Americans are so obsessed with 'my favorite this' and 'best that,'" observes our friend Belen in Barcelona.
I'll try to resist this superlative default cultural mode in posting about the trip. But when some things really do stand out, it's hard not to do.
Starting with our first meal in Spain. Instead of hitting Boqueria first, we had lunch at 3:00 (typical time for us during this vacation) in another market, Santa Caterina, which is also the best updated historic building we saw.
While its vibe is definitely of a different era than Boqueria's overflow of fresh typical Catalan regional delights, this meal at Santa Caterina's vast contemporary restaurant proves to be a good introduction to the emergence of la Nueva Espaa. (Disclaimer: we missed main market hours and only went to the restaurant.)
Take your pick of traditional gazpacho or clean, sweet melon and mint soup. Asian inspired dishes or an assortment of antipastos. Along with the clearly categorized matrix menu printed on the placemats, the LED digital display signs above the open kitchen counters remind customers of the day's offerings. Even the bathroom embraces this progressive ethos by being unisex � and I don't mean the private, single-toilet kind.
But now to back up a bit, here's a quick tour through some assaults on the senses found at the older landmark market, which some claim is the Best in the World. I'm not saying nothing about my humble opinion as to whether or not such assertions are absolutely true.
White beans with baby squid and balsamic reduction at the famous Bar Pinotxo. The dude there really is a memorable character.
A dish of live langoustines, awaiting their fate at the Bar Central. I don't think their chances of escape are good.
This is the place to clam up.
Bacalao, anyone?
Boquerones, a marvelous tapa when marinated with olive oil and lemon.
One of the many moving piles of incredibly fresh seafood available.
Disfruta las frutas.
This ham and cheese case seems almost dull by comparison to the other stuff on display.
Piles of oozing navajas, or razor/jack knife clams and other still active creatures of the sea. Much larger than the ones we had in Venice.
This might be turned into amazing pulpito gallego later on.
Thank goodness this pregnancy allows me to handle being around raw seafood, albeit for not too long, but no way will I eat these worms.
Setas galore at Petras in the back of the market. I sneaked some home and made a fabulous pasta with them, instead of my standard porcini.
The fresh ones don't travel as well, alas.
http://erinskitchen.blogspot.com
DATE: 06/08/2006 02:51:29 PM
Thank you for the escapism from work and dreary LA this Thursday afternoon. And I thought the Ferry Building was great :) Love the oozing clams and the squirmy shrimp. Also, melon and mint soup? Yum! And this was just the beginning of the trip, right?
Posted by: erin | February 07, 2008 at 03:05 PM
It's so nice to have you do all of the research for us. It makes our decision making so much easier!! Thanks.
Posted by: MBT Online | July 15, 2011 at 03:21 AM