Mundial Bar, Barcelona

Crazy Green Things

Mundial Bar, Barcelona

This place is about as old school as it gets. A single waiter might walk 30,000 steps a day in 500 sq ft because he was non stop taking care of roughly 30 customers. One guy taking care of 30 guests. Awesome. Also, there is only one guy in the kitchen. Just one and he is working his little closet of a space to knock out every dish in this place. Two guys handling an entire restaurant for dinner. Two guys. Major credit given for the work ethic at Mundial.

Upon entering Mundial, I spied some crazy green things on a plate. I say “crazy green things” because green vegetables in Spain seem to be as rare as diamonds. The green things were padron peppers which were wonderfully pan scorched and seasoned generously with salt. I’m thinking my near 50-year old body could use some fiber; and green veg and peppers sounded like a refreshing treat. Yep, delicious but not the best item here.

No reason to go too far out of the box at Mundial and keep it simple. Croquettes, Patatas Bravas, red wine. The Patatas were the best I had in Spain. Great fry job and aioli duo of classic heavy garlic (more like the Armenian style garlic sauce than aioli) and the second aioli spiked with smoked paprika..The two different types of croquettes were ok, the bacalao fritter tasted more of potato than fish, with two of the them being cold in the middle. The chicken croquettes were super hot and fresh fried but tasted of older thigh meat. I’m batting 0-2 on croquettes in Spain, but I’ll keep swinging.

As I set up in the previous review with Bar del Pla, I’m finding that each tapas bar has something they do extraordinarily well. In Bar del Pla’s case, it’s braised meat. In Mundial’s case, it’s Patatas Bravas and Padron Peppers. I’m sticking with my theory that it’s going to be difficult for any old-school tapas bar to “run the table” on all things tapas. Rather, the “tapas crawl” might be a better idea when it comes to eating tapas and it shouldn’t be difficult, many of these places are open all day and they certainly don’t close until late.

More reviews and more food pics to come…

Best Patatas Bravas of the entire trip!!!

One Man Army in the Kitchen

Bar del Pla, Barcelona

Braised Cheek

Bar del Pla (a guidebook favorite) in Barcelona was packed all day with locals and tourists alike. I’m not here to bash the guidebooks, far from it. They serve a useful purpose, enlightening first-time travelers to a city or region. But, just like wine ratings written by the casual drinker with no experience, the conventional wisdom often leads to a herd mentality, “if everyone else is drinking/eating Brand X, maybe I should too”.

Praise the Braise!

Bar del Pla is located in the heart El Born. It’s a classic place to eat The highlights for me were the ox tail topped with foie gras and the long braised braised cheek. Yep, two braised dishes that were solid and worth singling out Bar del Pla. These two braised dishes were the best braises the whole trip! Sauces were concentrated and reduced, flavors were bold and warming, classic execution of braised meat.

However, the rest of the food wasn't worth the hype online that this place gets. The croquettes at del Pla were the size, shape and crispiness of an egg roll or spring roll; not a bad thing. The inside was sort of creamy and chicken filled. Was it good? Sure. Should you drop everything to come here? Nah. If anything, I suddenly wanted an actual Thai/Vietnamese style spring roll. Croquettes are served practically everywhere in Spain. Keep searching. Bar del Pla are good, but there are better.

There was even an attempt at tacos here with another braised meat. Perhaps, to a European who’s never been to Mexico and never had tacos, the tacos at del Pla will be totally new and interesting. To me, they were meh.

Come to Bar del Pla for a braised meat tapas, a drink, and move on if you’re hungry. Trust me, there are croquettes, jamon and patatas bravas everywhere else in Barcelona and you should give them a try and move on from the guidebook. And skip the tacos.

Croquettes on the left, Ox Tail with Foie Gras on the right

Bar del Pla Tacos

Ramblero in La Boqueria Market, Barcelona

Ramblero in La Boqueria Market, Barcelona

La Boqueria or Mercat Boqueria Barcelona is one of the busiest markets #thewinemaestro been to at lunch time, regardless of the country or city. The only market it compares to in terms of busyness that I've been to is Djema el-Fna in Morocco at dinner back in 2006.

Djema el-Fna in Morocco, 2006

When researching the Boqueria Market and where to eat, based upon every TV show, online mag, Google search, etc. they all say to go to Quim and Pinotxo. Why? Who knows. If you’ve ever looked up ‘Lobster Rolls in Maine’, Red’s Eats ALWAYS comes up and is ranked #1. Why? Don’t know. I’ve been to Red’s, it’s good but there are plenty of other choices in the ENTIRE state of Maine that I’ve been to that are equally as good and waaaaay less busy…but I digress.

Pinotxo is at the entrance to Bocqueria, so it's the first thing every tourist sees plus the queue to get a seat; so good luck with Pinotxo. Quim was about as un-organized as it gets. People are waiting behind other people getting up to leave, only the staff really know who is in line next, but refuse to say who is next when asked, it’s all sort of laissez faire; EXCEPT when two seats open up and you sit down. Then suddenly, by some miracle, the staff finds their voice to say the seats were reserved. This happened twice at Quim. At that point, I’m done, which is why we bailed. Based upon that, we tried Ramblero..

Why Ramblero? One huge shellfish plate after the other and controlled turnover of the seating. It's a tourist location, like everything else in El Boqueria, it's on the map, there's probably better, but you're here, so sharpen your elbows and grab the credit card, you might as well eat and you’re gonna pay for it.

Ramblero will tell you to get a platter of fish. They told each guest the same thing, “We suggest the fish platter.” They push shellfish, but since my gout knows about shellfish and baitfish and the trouble it can cause, it was firmly suggested by me that no shellfish be brought, only seafood with scales and suckers. Well, they brought out salmon, tuna, sea bream, sea bass, calamari, octopus all stacked on top of potatoes and garnished with cabbage, olive oil, lemon, and some greens. Basically, a mound of fresh seafood served on a plate in a total time of 8 minutes from order to plate.

Mound O’Fish at Ramblero made quite an impact in terms of quality, simplicity, speed to table and sheer size. I have zero complains about the food. None of the fish was off, all of it was cooked properly, and seasoning profile was good.

The downside to the whole place is, it's cramped. You've been served a beautiful mound of fish and it's not meant to be savored and enjoyed, it’s meant to be efficiently eaten as it was prepared quickly to make room for the next customer who also read online that no trip to Barcelona could be complete without a trip to the Boqueria Market! Blah Blah.

A memorable meal for sure, although not our favorite of the trip, (it was crowded, loud, not relaxed, touristy, and we felt hustled the entire time), but it was an experience. Table turning is an art and science here. Chalk it up to the "10 Places You HAVE to Eat in Barcelona" if you believe in that sort of thing.

First Impressions of Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona

As a neophyte to Spain, #thewinemaestro saw Barcelona like he sees Rome, a great place to fly into, but the whole point is to move on to a smaller city. The advantage of Rome over Barcelona, Rome has plenty of things you can see (from a historical perspective) just from walking around. There is no Coliseum, Spanish Steps or Trevi Fountain in Barcelona; sorry. Barcelona's main attractions, Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi attractions are all “pay to see inside”, which means you have to plan your visit, buy tickets, and schedule stuff. Same with the Picasso Museum. Let’s face it, #thewinemaestro is not a huge museum goer. I’d rather wander around town and see what people do and what they’re eating and drinking.

In terms of where tourists congregate in Barcelona, it’s all about El Born, Gothic and La Rambla (all of the world is on La Rambla). El Born and Gothic are neighborhoods with plenty of things to eat and drink. La Rambla is one big long street with a lot of humans and shops.

We stayed in Poblenou, a neighborhood nearly 2 miles away from El Born and an easy walk each day to see whatever sites interest you. I didn’t see a single tourist in Poblenou, or at least none that stuck out. Poblenou in the summer could be a great place to stay; the beach was a 10 minute walk from the apartment. In many ways, Poblenou was much like The Outer Richmond District in San Francisco that I lived in in the late 90’s; locals only, no tourist attractions, great neighborhood to live in, close to the beach, quiet and a couple miles from the hustle and bustle of the city.

I think after my stay, Barcelona, like San Francisco, is all about the neighborhood. Find ones you like and explore them. El Born and The Gothic will always be there, just like The Financial District and Union Square will be there when I return to SF. If and when I return to Barcelona, I’ll check out some different neighborhoods and skip the museums, I want to see how people are living today while enjoying a glass of vermut.

The Maestro Takes a Vacation to Spain and Portugal

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.