Delicious California Wine

I know it's next to sacrilegious to suggest a California wine in a blog that is essentially about Spanish food and wine, but given that I have been living in California for the last year or so, I have been making a concerted effort to get to know some local wines.

Last night at Canele (http://www.canele-la.com/) a wonderful neighbourhood restaurant in Atwater, I tried the Orin Swift Cellars 2007 The Prisoner Red Wine. It is a blend of all sorts of grapes (the Orin Swift website will satisfy those curious about more specifics). I found it to be bold without being overpowering. Orin Swift describes it as having "great color, deep, dark garnet with a clean and bright red band in the rim".

Soon I will post about some lovely Spanish wines that you are now able to get in the States.

Lucky New Yorkers

Restaurateur, winemaker, guitarist — Joe Bastianich will start construction on a 40,000-plus-square-foot Italian marketplace, Eataly, at 200 Fifth Avenue in the new year. He expects Eataly to open by July, with seven restaurants including a Neapolitan-pizzeria import called Pomodoro Rosso, a fish spot by David Pasternick, and a hand-pulled mozzarella bar from L.A. star Nancy Silverton. There will also be a rooftop microbrewery — in partnership with Dogfish Ale — that will hawk Alpine sausages and seat 300. Oh, and he just ran the New York City marathon. But he makes up for all those burned calories in this week's New York Diet.

Pinotxo (Pinnochio)

Pinotxo is a small bar inside the market of the Boqueria in Barcelona. It is a silently famous place. In other words, some of the best chefs in the world will make a point of eating here when they are in Barcelona but unless you know about it, you would just walk right past it while grocery shopping in this stupendous market. I am actually a bit conflicted about talking about it here but since this is a blog for friends, I guess it's OK. :)

Pinotxo is expensive, uncomfortable and hard to "get into". I put that in quotes, because the place is nothing more but a bar, which means you might have to eat st

anding up, or wait quite some time for a couple of stools to open up. The food is to die for. When I went with my friend Dushan (hola!) we opted for the "bring us what you want" option and were regaled with amazing dish after amazing dish, until we said no more.

The place is famous for its Croquetas (to the right) and the Bacalao (cod fish) they make, which is to die for. The garbanzos con morcilla (chickpeas with blood sausage) are great too, as is their tuna. Needless to say everything is fresh and bought that day in the very market it stands in.

Anchovies

My friend Carlos Lorenzo has a great little article about one of the most delicious anchovies you will ever taste. They are well known in Cataluña: Anchoas de L'Escala. L'Escala by the way, is a gorgeous little town north of Barcelona, close to the French border and is definitely worth a visit. But if you can't visit, just eating its anchovies will be heaven on earth.

For more information, here's the link to Carlos' blog:

http://www.barcelonaphotoblog.com/2009/07/la-escala-anchovies-genuine-catalan.html

For New Yorkers/ Para los que vengan a Nueva York

Hi again,

Summer is finally raging in the NYC and with it, all sorts of new restaurants, bars and hot spots. The latest I went to was Lot 2 in the Greenwood Heights section of Brooklyn. It's a newly opened restaurant with delicious Italian food. My favorite dishes were the fennel salad and the chicken, which was a modern take on the classic Cacciatore. Chef Scott (last name escapes me) helms from Bensonhurst and took much of his inspiration from his Italian-American family Sunday dinners. This includes curating his own meats on site. They were quite impressive, I might add.

The address is 687 6th Avenue between 19th and 20th Street.

Para los hispano-parlantes: este restaurante Italiano es buenisimo, no muy caro y tiene una lista de vinos pequeña pero potente. Full disclosure: el dueño es hijo de un amigo mio. :)

Nit de Sant Joan (Night of Saint John, or night of the summer solstice)

This is one of my favorite celebrations in Barcelona. Actually, I think it happens in all of Catalunya and Valencia but I've really only witnessed in Barcelona and Sitges. It takes place during the night of the 23rd of June to the 24th because that is the shortest night of the year (i.e the summer solstice). 

Though the origins of the celebration are unknown, most people agree in viewing it as pagan ritual that was incorporated by the Church into the modern world, just like Christmas. Some paganists say that it is the "opposite" of Christmas Eve and therefore the Devil's night. 

Whatever its' origins, it's an incredibly beautiful and rich celebration of fire. In fact, an alternative non-Christian name for the celebration is Nit del Foc (Night of Fire). Bonfires are lit individually, by families or in large groups i.e. a small town might have a  communal fire for everyone (see pic). The idea is to burn anything useless that one has accumulated in the past year. Symbolically, you are renewing yourself by burning away the things you don't need, anything old or useless. In the old days, fire was also seen as a protector in the sense that it would burn away any bad spirits or thoughts haunting your house or town. 

I have not been lucky enough to be in Barcelona during this night in quite some time so I don't know that they still do it, but when I was a kid, there used to be a bonfire at pretty much every major intersection of the city, which made for a very magical night. 

There are also fireworks on Montjuich, which are gorgeous and light up the beautiful mountain. And the tradition is to drink Cava (our version of Champagne) and eat Coca. There are many different traditions associated with this night, way too many for me to mention here, but I'll post some of my favorites:

- one is supposed to stay up all night during the Nit de Sant Joan

- Correfocs also come out that night. The word literally means "run fire". Men or women dress up as little devils and carry some sort of metal paraphernalia that keeps fireworks (i.e. fire) coming, which literally makes them look like some sort of devil (not the evil kind) running in a ball of fire. Some of them will also dance and play music. 

- kids are allowed to set off fireworks all night long

- it is said that this night is the chosen one for all sort of mythological creatures and spirits to come out of hiding, so get ready for some sightings

Olivia Plaza

One of the questions I get all the time is where to stay in Barcelona. This is tricky to answer, as Barcelona is not exactly cheap. Plus with the euro-dollar exchange, it's tough for Americans right now. Renting apartments has become a major attraction recently and there is obviously good reason for it, specially if you are into shopping in the wonderful markets for meat, fish and vegetables that you'd be hard-pressed to find in the US. I'll do another post on renting apartments but for now, I'm plugging my friend Manuel's sister's hotel: Olivia Plaza. It's so new, I haven't even seen it yet but you couldn't be in a better place. In the heart of Plaza Catalunya which is a major square (well, it's round) at the top of the Ramblas, bottom of the Paseo de Gracia and connecting all major buses and subways. Her name is Olivia Valderrama. Tell her I sent you!

http://www.oliviaplaza.es Plaza Catalunya, 19 Barcelona, Spain