Gypsy Caves

The tour has progressed from Granada - the city of love - to Madrid - the NYC of Spain. I admit, I did not get to experience much food related shenanigans in Granada, seeing as our hotel was way up on a mountain and our shows didn't start until 10 30 pm. Mostly we ate at the hotel barbecue which they kept open for us until 2 30 am. Unfortunately, it was not the greatest, and the service was quite awful...mind you serving a hoard of hungry dancers at that time in the morning is probably no one's cup of tea.

Luckily, the city had many other things going for it and surprisingly, turned out to be my favorite city!

I did have one great night in town when my friends and I went to an authentic hookah bar. I have never been to a hookah bar and apparently this city, or this spot we stubbled upon, was the place to experience it.

At first we weren't sure if the place was still open, seeing as it was 1 30 on a Sunday night, but they were indeed open - things tend to get shifted a few hours later in Spain because of siesta. We were escorted to our very own private side of the restaurant. The lighting was dim and the decor was very tastefully done ; it seemed that we had maybe trespassed into a secret room in the Palacio Nazaris..it was great.

We ordered some mint-y tea which was traditionally sweet. It came in a beautifully ordained tea pot with glass cups engraved with beaufitul symbols and arabic print.

The waiter was probably what made the experience so great, he seemed thrilled that four american girls came into his restaurant before closing time. He was very jealous of the male friend we brought along with us...

He was very attentive, and brought our peach flavored hookah out very quickly. The highlight I must say though, was when he showed up with postcards and wrote all of names in Arabic characters for us. It was beautiful!

Of course, perhaps the effects of the hookah made us feel extra specially spiritual and moorish... regardless by the end of the night, we were all outiftted in arabic garber - head pieces and jingly scarves, the music was too good to pass up and we even did a little jig.

It was a fabulous night and the best thing was that it was so different from what we usually did, indeed the bar didn't even sell alcoholic beverages...clearly, that kind of stimulation is not necessary here!

Las Palmas - Las yum-as...

Here we are in sunny Las Palmas...except that it is not really sunny at all and is actually abnormally overcast...typico. We seem to be unable to get our timing right with the weather and have yet to be blessed with a perfect sunny day. At this rate, we will all be coming back whiter than when we left Boston!

On the other hand however, Las Palmas has proved to be the home of many a great restaurant and even more exciting is the fact that the restaurants are much more diverse than the other cities we have been in. So far, I have had a fabulous italian meal and an incredible brazilian meat buffet.

The italian restaurant is called Don Vito's and actually has a picture of the Godfather on the outside...so I am not going to lie, I was skeptical at first. But we went for it anyways and started off with a great bottle of red wine. I ended up ordering the Cosa Nostra salad which was a nice change from the usual insalada mixta (garden vegetables, boiled egg and tuna). This salad was loaded with avocado, chopped lettuce, pine nuts, a dash of pesto, cherry tomato and peaches. Very tasty!

I then split a vegetarian pizza adorned with mushrooms, sauteed onions and olives. Pizza, I find, can be very poorly made, but this place had a great crust and good cheese and those are usually a much needed pretense for any successful pizza.

The others ordered a sicilian mushroom pasta and the paella. The former was very good, creamy and fresh with a variety of funghi and the latter was even better, loaded with fresh seafood and the perfect tomato taste, so what they say about the paella in Las Palmas is true!

The waiter was also what made this restaurant such a success. He was brazilian/italian and had such flair as to entrance the diners and make the meal seem like some kind of show. Bravo!

The brazilian restaurant we went out to last night was actually referred to us by the waiter from Don Vito's, so we were fairly confident about it. However when we arrived, it turned out to be a buffet. Usually, when I am about to conquer a buffet, I need to know before hand so I can prepare my stomach for a bit of an overload. I wasn't quite prepared for this, but went for it anyways, trusting my unusual ability to stuff a large amount of food into a relatively small stomach. I am glad I didn't back down, the meal was an experience in itself!

There was a salad bar with all the usual fixings and then they brought out some sides. Unfortunately, because we were there a half hour before closing, they had no more beans and plantains (I was very put out). Nonetheless, they had rice and fries and delicious chicken croquettas and then they brought on the meat. I have never seen so much meat in my life, all different cuts. The prok ribs were my favorite..and the sausage. They would bring the meat out on a huge skewer and slice it right onto your plate. Delicious!

We ended the meal with a fabulous layered coconut chocolate cake. It was divine, litteraly like being on cloud number nine.

I was so full and satisfied by the time I left the place that I practically forgave them for not having the fried plantains.

Thank goodness Las Palmas didn't go for the tapas overload...it's so nice to have a change of pace!

My dream come true

I am happy to say that in Santander, the third city on our tour, I experienced one of the best meals of my life. The nice thing about this city is that it is less metropolitan than Barcelona, so most restaurants are fairly good quality, with their own little quirks and regional items. Of course, you have to stay clear of the restaurants lining the beach and waterfront areas and having a Spanish foodie who is familiar with the cities hot spots always helps.

Lucky for us, the head of the Spain based stage crew fit this description and brought a few of us hungry dancers to a little placed called Bodega Del Riojano post-performance. The title is fitting considering the walls were lined with painted wine barrels and the relative ease with which we acquired some grade A Sangria shortly upon our arrival. At 8 Euros the L, things were already looking up and the bar tender was amazing to watch as he added this, that and a cinnamon stick to the concoction.

After a bit of chit chat in the bar area (we were a relatively large group), we were taken to our tables and given menus which, to my relief, were only available in Spanish...no tourist snares here! Of course that meant I had a bit of trouble deciphering what I was ordering, but by this time I had already sized up the plates around me and knew I would be safe with just about anything. My friend and I took a leap of faith and ordered the Monk fish which came bathed in a beautiful tomato based sauce and was like putting little bites of heaven into your mouth. We also ordered the house special Calamari Frito which was without a doubt the most succulent and fresh seafood I have ever tasted. Indeed apart from a squirt of lemon juice, this fried treat needed no tartar sauce!

The other highlight was the steak two of the men at my table ordered. It came on a huge platter and took up nearly half of the table. It also came quite raw and accompanied by a hot stone, which I pointed out was probably supposed to be used to cook the meat to the desired level of rareness. Mind you by the time I had pointed this out, one of the men had already inhaled two slices of very raw, but apparently very delicious meat!

The way the entire meal worked was amazing, there was no waiting around for the next item, things kept appearing on the table with no effort on my part..it was the kind of paradise I have only experienced in the sweetest of dreams. Indeed when I thought all was said and done, a dessert platter arrived with an assortment of flans, puddings, cheesecakes and gelato. The most amazing thing was the goat cheese gelato. There is nothing more tantalizing than a bite of this frozen delicacy when you are expecting an ordinary vanilla flavour!

The authenticity of this restaurant was undeniable and I am so glad I finally experienced a true spanish meal in sizeable quantity as well as quality!

I would go back in a heart beat, but alas, we are on our way to Las Palmas. On the bright side, I hear their paella is among the best in Spain!

El Fuego Negro - success!

I am proud to say that we finally made it out to the Fuego Negro, one of the top 25 tapas restaurants in Spain...and probably in the world.

It was not easy, my friend and I had to struggle and fight against major natural forces to get there; gail force winds, torrential rain and...well we were pretty much in a hurricane. But we pushed through and thank goodness we did, it was worth it!

This place was just the thing we needed after the tourist-type places we had become accustomed to in Barcelona. It was small, dimly lit with red accents embedded in the otherwise earthy interior. There was a nice bar area and a dining area in the back. My friend and I installed ourselves at the bar and were given an english menu. We then proceeded to order a 'dirty salad', a mini kobe beef burger on a sweet potato bun, cod with cauliflower puree and curry sauce and vegetable tempura.

The plates arrived as they were ready. The burger was divine, juicy and perfectly cooked, the salad was a bit too salty for me, but perhaps that is why they called it the 'dirty salad'. The cod was unbelievably fresh tasting and the puree and curry complimented it beautifully. My poor mouth didn't really know what to make of the pure tastes it was being subjected to. Clearly this place uses only regional ingredients. The vegetable tempura was good, it too was very fresh tasting, but I personnaly would not recommendhave tempura in a tapas restaurant. After these dishes we were still curious about some of the others so we ordered the garlic risotto which was sublime and came with some crunchy pieces of rice which added to the textures. We also ordered this crazy sounding ham dish which without the slightest hint of a doubt won the award for the best dish... that I have ever experienced.

I will try my best to explain it...it was three little pieces of lightly cooked ham breaded in an almond cookie crust and accompanied by an espresso cup filled with this unbelievable coffee/almond gravy, topped with steamed milk. You would dip the ham in the sauce and put the saturated piece of meat into your mouth and pretty much have an orgasm. That's the best I can do.

I am so glad that we made it out against all odds to this restaurant, and I see why it is such a huge deal. If there is one place you get to in Spain, please make it this one!