Day 6: San Sebastian, Arzak, September 2012

We spent the first full day in San Sebastian at the "primary" beach. Oh, Europe and its beaches. Eighty year old topless women, 300 pound hairy men in speedos. Also, we are the only people who went to the beach in our bathing suits. Everyone else arrives in normal clothes and changes in full view of everyone. Never change, Europe, never change.... except do.

 Chis takes a nap :)

We didn't last long at the beach that day as we only had our towels to lay on, and that starts to get uncomfortable rather quickly. Also, we have no tans to show for our efforts, as they only option of sunblock sold in pharmacies in San Sebastian was SPF 50.

 Forgot to mention, the bed in our hotel room is the biggest bed I have ever seen. It is seriously like two full beds put together. It. was. awesome. Also awesome was our lovely view from the window.

Arzak

San Sebastian dinner number 2 was at Arzak. If we had to recommend one of the three restaurants to visitors, this would be the one. However, we warn you in advance about the curse of the bald man. Whereas Christopher (a man at 6'2") was able to scrape up and digest every last morsel of each dish, Rachel (a hobbit at 5'0") was not. Each dish that Rachel didn't finish was met by a "you didn't like it?" jest from the bald man (a cousin of the blue-lipped guy from the temple in Qarth in Game of Thrones). It ended up being funny, but became a recurring theme for the rest of the trip :)

Marinated sardines and strawberry, gooseberry with coconut

 Chorizo with tonic (literally - do you see the Schwepps can?) and corn, figs and black pudding

Kabraroka pudding with kataifi

(dry ice!)

 Cromlech with onion, coffee and tea

 Hemp's mustard and lobster

(everything edible, including the mustard leaves and little clothespins made with lobster essence)

 Dusted egg and mussel

(mmmmm runny yolk)

 Gooseberry, spelt and monkfish

 Pork fat and physalis

(yes, this was as good as it sounds, and yes, it looks like balls)

 Beef with vegetable screens

(rarest beef (aside from tartare) I have ever eaten - will switch suggested cooking temperature at steakhouses to rare on a going-forward basis)

 Playing Marbles with Chocolate

 Homage to Chillida

(don't remember a thing about this one, but it was probably awesome)

 Golden footprint and ladybugs

 Pistachio and beetroot stone

 Not your typical after dinner chocolates.  

These were as tasty as they were beautiful.

 Goodbye Arzak :(

Day 5: San Sebastian, Akelarre, September 2012

I could write a book about the awesomeness that is San Sebastian, but I'll try and keep it to three posts, one for each of the magical days that we spent there and the amazing restaurants that we visited. We arrived in San Sebastian via a 5 hour train ride from Barcelona. Our room at the beautiful Hotel Maria Cristina was not yet ready, so we headed out on the town in search of a non-tapas lunch.

The old part of town.

 The incredible beach!

The incredible "secondary" beach.

 After lunch on the beach, we headed up the mountain, a perilously steep climb for two tired tourists in sandals, but well worth it. Below is the view from the mountain of the rooftops down below.

 Naturally, when we arrived at the apex, dreaming of the views from the base of the Christ statue, we were informed that Jesus was closed for the day. Advance warning people, please!

Still, the views were none too shabby from our vantage point.

 There was an old castle on top of the hill. I can't imagine any army trying to attack it. The climb alone would kill most of them (ok, maybe I'm slightly exaggerating).

Boys and their guns.

Akelarre

In addition to its pristine beaches, San Sebastian is famous for its food, and boasts three 3-Michelin starred restaurants. Making reservations at each was one of the first things Rachel did when we booked this trip back in November 2011! The first night we went to Akelarre. We would normally have ordered one each of the tasting menus, but the "Bekarki" menu looked so good, we both ordered that. The food was both incredibly tasty, but also very whimsical. See below!

 "Sea Garden"

Everything was edible, including the breadcrumb "Prawn's sand".

(From left to right: Oyster leaf, mussel with "shell", sea urchin sponge, beach pebbles (shallot and corn), codium seaweed coral (goose barnacles tempura))

 Xangurro in Essence, its Coral Blini and "Gurullos"

(The crustacean's meat is reinforced by its juice. Accompanied by pasta that looks like rice grains)

 Razor Shell with Veal Shank

(Razor Shell with veal and cauliflower mushroom)

 Sauteed Fresh Foie Gras with "Salt Flakes and Grain Pepper"

(The salt was sugar shavings and the pepper was puffed black rice made to look like peppercorns - something the waiter did not disclose until after the course, leading to some delicious cognitive dissonance of the taste buds punctuated by a big "aha" and a sheepish "knew it at along -- NOT".  This turned out to be one of (if not THE) favorite dish of three days of fantastic restaurants)

 Turbot with its "Kokotxa" (eh.... I forgot a picture).

"Desalted" Cod Box with Shavings

(Crystallized cod presented in a fish box, over edible shavings and cod tripes in tomato water - again - this is just so whimsical - this is actually how salt cod is packed and shipped!)

 Carved Beef, Tail Cake "Potatoes and Peppers"

(aka, Chris should have gone with the beef)

 Milk and Grape, Cheese and Wine in Parallel Evolution

(From left to right: grapevine, curded sheep milk and walnut, powdered fresh cream with chive and grapes, quark cheese with nutmeg and pink pepper aroma, must of tapioca and tomato, idiazabal semi-matured with quince jelly and wine dust, brandy syrup with gorgonzola cheese ice cream, torta of Caesar's grape with raisins soaked in Pedro Ximenez.)

 Layered Strawberry and Cream

(a reconstructed strawberry. basil seeds game. - this was as delicious as it was beautiful - I loved the gorgeous plate the restaurant had made to suggest fresh cream)

 Stuffed and ready for bed :)

Day 4: Priorato, September 2012

On the fourth day of our trip, we arranged a tour with the ever-reliable Cellar Tours to visit the Priorat region of Spain and taste some wine. 

Unlike the regions of Italy we visited, Priorat seems to be a wild frontier with few rules about variety, blending, aging, oak/no oak, etc.  One of the most notable things about the region is the slate soil. To call a wine a "Priorat" wine, it must be made from grapes produced in a particular area, and also from vines with a particular yield per hectare. The day we toured Priorat, we were treated to scenes of the actual harvest, which was a treat, because we've generally toured wineries just prior to the start of the harvest.

La Conreria d'Scala Dei

We first visited La Conreria d'Scala Dei and toured the facilities with Jordi Vida, the winemaker and co-owner. Their wines are blends of grenache, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cariñena, syrah, and others. They ferment the various grapes they use together depending on ripeness, and the final blend of their wine changes from year to year. They age their wines in French and American oak - the length in oak depending on the particular wine.

 At La Conreria d'Scala Dei, we tasted juice of grenache and syrah at different stages of fermentation out of the giant steel tanks, and then out of the barrels in the cellar.

 The views from the estate were absolutely fabulous and the weather was to die for. As if that wasn't enough, as has often happened on our wine tours we made fast friends with Jordi, who clearly loves what he's doing and has big dreams for his winery. We could have spent the whole day on this porch tasting wine :)  But Chris noticed that a man was down on the ground waving at us and pointing to his watch - after initially ignoring the man, we suddenly realized he was our driver and we had lingered too long!  So it was on to the next vineyard!

 We tasted three wines, Iugiter Seleccion (12-18 months in oak, 2 years in the bottle), Iugiter (8-14 months in oak, 1 year in the bottle) and La Conreria (3 months in oak, 4 months in the bottle).

Clos de l'Obac 

We next visited Clos de l'Obac.  The official name of the winery is Costers del Siurana. Clos de l'Obac, their most famous wine, is made with a blend of five grape varieties, and with grapes from fifty year old Garnacha and Cariñena vines. The winery is located in the pretty wine village of Gratallops, right next to Rene Barbier's Clos Mogador. Clos de l'Obac is run by Carles Pastrana, who is credited with being one of the first in the region, along with Alvaro Palacios, Rene Barbier and Josep Lluis Perez, to realize the enormous potential of Priorat as a wine region.

 Each of the wines produced is made from the same blend of grapes every year. At the tasting, where we met Carles Pastrana, we tasted a 2000 and 2002 Clos de l'Obac, a 2005 Miserere, the Kyrie (a white wine) and Dolc de l'Obac (a sweet wine made from overripe grapes and added sugar). 

After the tasting, we headed to Restaurant Cellers de Gratallops, a restaurant in Gratallops, which is also run by the winery.

Mas Martinet

Our last visit of the day was to Mas Martinet, owned and run by Josep Lluis Perez, which, as promised, began with a drive up the mountain to view their various vineyards.

 You can see Gratallops, the small town in which we had lunch, from near the top of their vineyards.

 They ferment their red wines in concrete - super old school.

 All of the wines we tasted were single vineyard wines - from three different vineyards they own. They were also the only winery we visited that used irrigation.

Chris wanted to taste more wine.....

Meanwhile, back in Barcelona...... Chris declared "no more tapas", and requested Italian. Rachel googled/trip-advisored Italian in Barcelona, and came upon Da Greco, which everyone deemed "great, authentic Italian." The only negative views were for decor and service, which I can live with. The decor lived up to its reputation (Medieval Times meets your grandmother's garage sale), the service was fantastic and attentive... the food.... was.... AWFUL. There is more "authentic" Italian at Olive Garden! Makayla was not impressed.....