As a working winemaker and owner, it’s difficult for #thewinemaestro to take vacations and truly “check-out” of the daily routine. However, there is one time of year that it slows down, just after Christmas. Most people are wrapped up in New Year’s resolutions of eating healthy, working out and going dry in January. I, on the other hand, can slip away for a little while and eat cured meats, drink copious amounts of wine (and vermouth it seems) and walk around cobblestone villages till midnight working off my 9pm dinner.
Overlooking Granada from the Alhambra
So that’s exactly what I did, I took a trip to Spain and Portugal; I’ve never stepped foot in either country and Southern Spain has nice weather in January. Luckily, there are direct flights these days to Barcelona, where I started and ended my holiday. In between the Barcelona bookends it was a world-wind type of trip, Lisbon, Seville, Granada; sticking with the south for warmer weather. I’ve given the short list of some of the great dishes and restaurants I checked out. I’ll detail more of them on the blog in the weeks to come.
The quick and dirty on some of the best dishes and Restaurants:
Pan con Tomate Tapisco, Lisbon
Croquettes, Bodegas Castaneda, Granada
Best Braised Meat, Bar del Pla, Barcelona
Chicharrones, Bar Alfalfa in Sevilla
Best Salad, the one I prepared at my AirBnB
Fried Cuttlefish aka Fish Sticks Tapisco, Lisbon
Tortilla Espanola, Petra, Seville
Biggest Pile of Fish on a Plate, Ramblero within the Boqueria, Market Barcelona
Best Dessert, Chocolate Cake, Landeau Chocolate in Lisbon
Patatas Bravas, Mundial Bar, Barcelona
Paella...I haven't had it enough to make a judgement
Tartare of Fish, Tartare-IA inside TimeOut Market, Lisbon
Bocadillo, aka Sandwich, Taberna Malvasia, Granada
Vermut aka Vermouth, Terrazza Dona Maria, Seville
Red Wine, Horacio Simoes Segredos 2015
Highly noteworthy dishes and Restaurants…
Best Simple Dish made Creative and Elegant and shouldn’t pair well together: Slow and Low, Barcelona Artichokes in fonduta drizzled with chili oil with a heaping pile of freshly shaved truffles
Best Spin on a Classic, Suba, Lisbon and a “reinvented” Tartare of cooked beef in truffle cream.
Best Overall Dish: Hoja Santa, Barcelona Black garlic mole of 70 ingredients with avocado and pistachio (Yeah, I know, I fly all the way to Spain to rave about Mole’…blame Albert Adria and Paco Mendez for making incredible food!)
I’ll be focusing on each of the towns I visited and the individual dishes and restaurants, complete with pictures of the food and occasionally the scenery.
Spain and Portugal treated me very well. It was a welcome vacation. There are several blog posts to follow regarding the details of the food and wine, so stay tuned.