Le Petit Commerce, delectable Bordeaux dining

 

One of the most wonderful things about traveling in Europe is the fact that it is easy and often just as cheap to buy airline tickets a few days before you're planning on going somewhere. To me, this has meant that the long road back from the holiday season has been punctuated by several, almost entirely, unexpected trips to places like Bordeaux, Angouleme, Berlin, Cazorla (Jaen) and Colorado.

Each of these unique and wonderful cities provided a perfect getaway, great company, lovely sights and delicious delicious food.

I'll start with the charming French cities of Bordeaux and Angouleme, a two-part destination that has become an almost yearly trek for us at the end of January for the International Festival of Bande Dessineé (Comic book festival). This incredible festival takes place in the striking Medieval town of Angouleme, which is entirely given over to this world-renowned event. Of course the deal is that any trip to Angouleme must begin or end with a day or two in the graceful and elegant city of Bourdeaux, which is connected by air to Madrid and by train to Angouleme.  The other part of the deal involves visiting our favorite restaurants in both cities and, whenever possible, discovering new ones.

Le Petit Commerce

This year's new winner charmed me so completely that we enjoyed both the first and the last meal of our trip at this lively neighborhood bistro. Le Petit Commerce specializes in fabulously cooked fish such as cod, bass, monk fish and sole, as well as a huge variety of other dishes. The mussels (those small, cute French ones) were the best I've ever had, with a delicate smokey flavor imparted by the wood fire that they were cooked over and devoid of unnecessary adornments. The oysters were succulent, juicy, creamy and perfectly chilled and the cod with Béarnaise sauce was amazingly buttery and tender, and so large a portion that I don't know how it could have formed part of the 12 Euro midday menu. In addition to fish and shellfish, the restaurant's selection of equally delicious meats includes the perfectly cooked (huge) duck magret that my companion ordered. To wash it down, there is an extremely affordable selection of understandably, mainly Bordeaux wines which yielded some (I won't reveal how many) outstanding bottles for less than 20 Euros apiece. 

Le Petit Commerce shellfish bar

Finally, if this weren't enough, the restaurant has recently opened a new shellfish bar right across the street, adorned with cheerfully checked tablecloths, bright open windows and shellfish that are so beautifully arranged that you feel like the shrimp are standing up and clapping with joy to see you come in.

Le Petit Commerce
22 Rue Parlement St Pierre
33000 Bordeaux, France
+33 (0)5 56 79 76 58

Gastrofestival Madrid

A first taste of Degustapas at the presentation this morning.

This morning I attended the official presentation of this year's edition of Gastrofestival at the Museo Thyssen. In its third year, this citywide event is an offshoot of the marvelous annual gastronomic conference Madrid Fusion, which kicks off tomorrow. While the three days of conferences that make up Madrid Fusion are mainly directed towards chefs, restaurant professionals and intense foodies, Gastrofestival was conceived of as a way of involving the rest of the city's citizens and tourists in this yearly celebration of gastronomic culture and all things edible.

Establishments all over the city will be participating in the many different facets of this festival. Degustapas, consists of dozens of bars and taverns that will be serving up a special tapa and a small bottle of Mahou beer for 3 Euros. Additionally, a long list of restaurants will be offering special menus priced at 25 or 40 Euros. However, my absolute favorite initiative (which admittedly I have yet to try) is called Cena con Las Estrellas (dinner with the stars), during which several of the visiting international chefs from Madrid Fusion are paired up with restaurants in Madrid, where they prepare their special (75 Euro) menus for only a day or two.

Of course in addition to all of these opportunities to eat eat eat, the festival also provides Madrileños with plenty of culture culture culture. Held from January 23rd -  February 5th, Gastrofestival extends beyond the restaurant scene and into gastronomically-themed expositions in museums and art galleries; special offers, courses and lectures in specialty shops and cooking schools; and even a food-themed film series at the Filmoteca Nacional.
Needless to say, this is the perfect opportunity for me to shamelessly plug the participating exhibition in my mother-in-law's art gallery, Pelayo47,  by José Manuel Nuevo entitled Cosas del Comer.

Mi Sushi - Well, you can keep it!

For lack of another photo, this actually really is a photo of MY homemade Sushi 

Last night I had an inexplicable hankering for Thong...let me just let that hang in the air for a moment.

The Thong to which I am referring of course is the delightfully named Chinese restaurant that I frequented years ago on Calle Santa Teresa, 4, in Alonso Martínez, which was right around the corner from where I found myself yesterday at dinnertime. Unfortunately, I soon realized that this Thong was long gone. Before anyone has time to worry, however, I should point out that there is still another Thong location on Calle de López de Hoyos, 14 - but while this agreeably elegant restaurant can be counted on to serve up equally agreeable Chinese food, it doesn't beckon to me enough to cross the city for a spring roll. Therefore, as I yearned for Thong, I settled on grabbing a quick bite at Mi Sushi, the apparently 'Japanese' restaurant that has taken its place. Big mistake.

My companion and I were feeling neither very hungry, nor very flush, so we opted to go the cheap and cheerful route of just ordering a couple of small dishes, including a few mixed maki, fried rice for her, and (a cold weather comfort food) udon noodle soup with tempura for me. The million item menu should have been enough to make me trust my instincts and get up and leave - no restaurant should have THAT many dishes - and if not that, then the nasty stare of the waiter when we ordered tap water (which he repeated back to us 3 times). But, being tired and weak, we ignored our gut feelings and stayed, proceeding to (not) enjoy the miniscule but acceptable maki (which cost upwards of 3 Euros for 3 tiny pieces) and the greasy and small portion of fried rice. I had to draw the line however at the soup, which smelled so unappetizing that I couldn´t eat it. It wasn't a rotten smell, but rather more like tepid dishwater with noodles, tinged with greyish beige hues and sad clumps of limp bean sprouts. 

I would definitely never ever want to call this restaurant My sushi, rice, soup or anything else. Ugh.

Mi Sushi
C/Santa Teresa, 4
28004 Madrid
913102436

Red Meat on a Stone: Viña P's enduring classic

I couldn't get them to stop flipping the meat long enough to get the photo

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There are few dishes that seem to leave as big a mark with my foreign visitors as the Carne roja de Buey a la piedra that has been served up at the classic Madrid restaurant, Restaurante Taberna Viña P, for as long as anyone can remember. This straightforward dish consists of a plate of barely seared aged beef that has been thinly sliced and generously sprinkled with rock salt. It is then accompanied to the table by a piping hot clay dish that has been lightly coated with oil. The rest is up to the diners, who cook their own meat to the desired amount on this piedra, or stone. The plate doesn't stay hot for long, but not to worry, the waiters will bring you a new one as soon as yours cools down.
There is something about cooking your own meat and watching it sizzle in front of you that has a memorable effect, leaving people like my co-cuñadastro, Will, eager to repeat almost 8 years after first having tried it - not to mention that the thinly sliced beef is flavorful, tender and quite lean. Listed on the menu for two people, it is admittedly not cheap (around 30+ Euros), nor does it seem to be as generous as it used to be. Even so, it is often enough to order just one portion for 3 or 4 people to share and then tack on a few other raciones, such as the fried eggplant with honey (thin, crispy and always delicious) and the tasty grilled pericos (green asparagus) with garlic mayonnaise. For dessert, I always get the Crema Catalana to share (similar to a creme brulee) and a icy glass of patxaran for a digestivo.

Viña P also makes an excellent choice for taking out-of-town visitors due to its wonderful location, smack dab in the middle of Plaza Santa Ana. Granted, it is full of tourists, but there is a wonderfully sunny terrace in the plaza itself (I just had lunch outside in January). Inside, the restaurant is a traditional classic graced by bullfighting photos, posters and aging aficionados. This family owned-and-operated establishment has a long history of being frequented by bullfighters, who during the sport's heyday, traditionally dressed before a fight at the imposing meringue-like Hotel Reina Victoria (now the Hotel ME), located at the end of the plaza.

Holiday slabs and holiday flab

 
Happy New Year!!

I spent the holidays in relative peace and quiet, apart from a spontaneous three day escape to London (more on that later), and really got my bake on. Maybe it was inspiration from my recent trip to Jijona to write about turrón making, or maybe it was just a bit of nesting and nostalgia, but I could not get my thoughts out of the kitchen over the holidays and away from a desire to mingle some of the sweet flavors of my past and present. Naturally, having stuffed myself on these confections - despite not having much of a sweet tooth -, I am looking forward to a few months of healthy eating and honoring the future over the past. Read more in Recovering from Turrón de Michigan and other holiday folly on the Trans-Iberian blog from El País.

Welcome back, London Town!

Sizzling fish at the Loong Kee Cafe

The Mister and I spent an impulsive three days in London between Christmas and New Year's Eve, dodging raindrops, visiting (closed) galleries, popping into museums, catching a show and drinking lager and warming up next to cozy fires in festively decorated pubs. With only a day or so to prepare for the trip, I spent the day before we left researching some great places to eat in London on food blogs like Greedy Diva, Gourmet Chick, A Girl Has to Eat and Musings of a W8 Housewife. Unfortunately, we were short on time, a lot of places were closed for the holidays and E was under the weather, so we contented ourselves with a couple of excellent pub meals of fish and chips and hearty soups at the The Antelope in Belgravia (near where we were staying) and at the Coopers Arms off of King's Road in Chelsea. We also had Hanoi-style sizzling fish for lunch at Loong Kee Cafe in the Vietnamese area of Kingsland Road, near Hoxton, which came highly recommended by two different people who we asked on the street, and a very tasty but kind of bizarro Chinese meal at Shanghai Blues in Holborn. This palatial establishment and former library has both the stiff formality of hovering waiters and cloth napkins delicately and silently placed on your lap and the black lacquered tables and blue neon lights of a nightclub. We had a great time, but I would take a noisy and bustling restaurant in Chinatown over this more staid version any day.

The night's menu at The Duke of Cambridge

Our favorite meal, however, was the one that we had been waiting over a year to enjoy. We happened upon The Duke of Cambridge organic pub last year while wandering around the marvelous district of Islington. This charming corner establishment is graced by large windows, rustic wood floors and tables, mismatched chairs and cozy candlelight. There is both an outer pub area and a smaller dining room in back, both of which are presided over by massive chalkboards that change during the course of the evening as the kitchen runs out of certain dishes and adds new ones.

The Duke of Cambridge is an all organic gastropub that opened in 1998, serving seasonal food and drink that is at least 80% sourced from the counties surrounding London. All of their fish is caught on small day boats off the south-east coast of England, all of the meat comes from whole animals purchased from local farms, and all of the beers, wines and alcohol are made by small independent producers. Basically, this place is food lover's dream, served up in an incredibly lovely, cozy, friendly and relaxed environment. Last year we managed to have a couple of beers in the pub, but the restaurant was packed to the gills and it was still a bit early to dine. To say that we were looking forward to coming back this year for a proper meal would be an understatement. To start off, we shared a Chicken liver and port pate with pickled beetroot, chutney and toast, followed by the delicious Slow roasted lamb shoulder (for me) and the Chili marinated coley (fish) with spiced haricot bean and tomato casserole, Savoy cabbage and golden beetroot, for the Mister. Unfortunately, it was too dark for any of the photos to come out, but suffice to say it was a delicious, romantic and lovely experience all around. I love London!

The Duke of Cambridge
30 St Peter's Street, Islington, London N1

+44 (0)20 7359 3066

The Antelope
22 Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, Westminster, London SW1W 8EZ
+44 (0)20 7824 8512

Coopers Arms
87 Flood Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 5TB
+44 (0)20 7376 3120

Loong Kee Cafe
134G Kingsland Rd  City of London E2 8DY

+44 (0)20 7729 8344

Shanghai Blues
193-197 High Holborn  City of London WC1V 7BD

+44 (0)20 7404 1668

Tapa Hopping the Nation's Best Tapas and Pintxos

Incredible "Jabón de pato" pintxo at Los Zagales Restaurant in Valladolid

This past November I again had the opportunity to attend the incredible National Pintxos and Tapas Competition that is held annually in the city of Valladolid, in Castilla Leon. While the competition itself is absolutely amazing, this year I focused my experience on visiting the local bars and restaurants that were hosting the competing chefs from all over Spain and providing the opportunity to taste their winning creations. Not only does the city boast a lively nightlife and ample tapas scene, but also, being able to actually taste the competing pintxos added a level of complexity to my understanding of the event itself.

Read more in Small Wonders in Valladolid on Foods From Spain.

Puckering up to Spanish grapefruit

One of my favorite winter treats has always been grapefruit. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my father's from Florida, but as children we used to eat half a grapefruit on winter mornings slathered in our own honey. I love the fact that the fruit makes its own handy breakfast bowl and the utilitarian beauty of the serrated grapefruit spoon.
When the magazine asked me to do an article on Spain's growing grapefruit, or pomelo, industry, I was completely shocked. I had never seen people eating grapefruit here the way that they do in the States (or at all really) and had no idea that it was such an important crop. Of course it's not surprising given the importance of other citrus crops such as oranges and lemos along the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
A four-hour train trip down to the beguiling and tropical town of Murcia, with it's ridiculously good vegetables and tapas scene, revealed the extent to which this delicious and tart fruit is blushing its way across the countryside.

Read more in Pulp Non-Fiction: Grapefruit, Spain's Other Citrus, from Spain Gourmetour Magazine on Foods From Spain.

Tis the Season for Turrón

Turrón de Jijona being made in the traditional boixet at El Artesano

I confess that I personally have never really developed a taste for true Spanish turrón. I want to, I really do. In fact, every year I make E give me a bite of his to try, but to no avail. This method worked with patxaran, a somewhat bitter and sweet (but interestingly, not bittersweet) Spanish liqueur - I tasted a sip from my friend Josh's glass for years and now can't get enough of the stuff.
Of course I have never had much of a sweet tooth, and so the honeyed sweetness of turrón is too much for me. I do like it, but just have never felt the intense love that most of my adopted countrymen have for this holiday treat. I can however, appreciate the history, tradition and incredible ingredients of this classic Spanish sweet, whose origins trace back several hundred years.
This appreciation is especially true now that I've visited the town of Jijona, Alicante, a delightfully smelling town that lies at the heart of Spanish turrón.

Read more in Turrón Temptations, Tasting the Holiday All Year Long, from Spain Gourmetour Magazine on Foods From Spain.

Now This is Grilled Octopus!

While on the subject of octopus, I thought it might be nice to give people a 'taste' of what a real grilled octopus dish looks like. This photo was taken on the island of La Graciosa, off the coast of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Grilled octopus is a specialty in Lanzarote and I have to say it was the most delicious pulpo I had ever sunk my teeth into. The outside was crispy and smokey, as if almost caramelized by the heat from the grill, and the inside was soft and tender. While the Canaries do tend to be cheaper than Madrid, if I recall correctly, this plate cost around 8 Euros. Amazing.