Stop what you're doin' cuz I'm about to ruin the image and the style that you're used to. Ok, Digital Underground aside, you need to stop whatever it is that you're doing and buy yourself a plane ticket to San Sebastian. Once there, you will need to go to A Fuego Negro and sit down for one of the most fun meals of your life. Chris and I made our way to this little gem on recommendation from Dianita and we couldn't have been more pleased. This cool and modern little eatery in Parte Viejo de San Sebastian is sleek without being overly done. Red and black dominate and exposed brick adds a kind of old world warmth to temper it's modern vibe. We thought we could go in and order off the menu a variety of very interesting sounding tapas. But no, we were informed that to sit and eat required a leap of faith. Yes friends, a surprise tasting menu of either 8 or 11 items. At first I thought Cristobal was going to put the kabosh on the whole thing but he came through with a glimmer of the foodie adventure spirit! Led through the unknown by our lovely waitress Roxette (who gave us the option of speaking in Basque, Castellano, French, or English) we knew we were in good hands. And so mi gente, let's get to the details of the meal shall we?
First up we have green olive vermouth shots. The vermouth was somehow thickened into a gel of sorts. Tasty. One thumb up apparently.
This little beauty was a sphere of cold tomato soup turned slightly solid and encased in a shell. It rested on a few Iberian fried breadcrumbs which meant, you guessed it, jamon iberico. The whole of it was another shot of sorts and it cracked opened in the mouth with a lovely coolness and light tomato flavor enhanced by the saltiness and texture of the breadcrumbs or migas.
And the bar just kept getting higher. Here were 3 scoops of entirely different ingredients. Starting on the left, Licorice ice cream, avocado cream, and then shredded crab. The idea here was to eat spoonfuls of the 3 components together. Brilliant! The saltiness of the crab, the creaminess of the avocado, and the cold, sharp yet sweet flavor of the ice cream all worked beautifully like a little symphony. Delicious!
The salad! Oh the salad with it's sherry (jerez) vinagre and tasty almost floral olive oil! This was my very first anchovy. Very salty but otherwise not so bad. I even ate the tomato (
still don't like them raw) and it also had really great tuna mixed in. This tuna was kind of high end tuna packed in oil. Wonderful almost flaky texture but it melted in my mouth and was smoothed out by the light oil. You can see those orange beauties in the background, yes? Carrots? NO! Egg yolks marinated in sugar and salt! These were dense with that heavy yolk-y flavor that you find in custard but without the sweetness. I had to ask about this one b/c I had no idea what they were. Really really good salad.
Next up, some tempura veggies. Carrots, eggplants, peppers, scallions, all served with two dipping sauces. A home made ketchup which was a little spicy along with an aioli made with garlic and potatoes. I was sort of neutral about this dish. It wasn't bad, it just didn't make it into the same realm as the others.
Okay, here's one I'd been waiting for. Bacalao. This is salt cod and I had been hearing about it for a long time. This is a piece served with some sprouts and breadcrumbs. The texture was very, well, meaty. I didn't really appreciate the flavor either. Oh well.
Pork neck (yes, neck) served on vanilla mashed potatoes with a lemon foam. This was absolutely incredible. The pork was fatty in the most wonderful way, melting in the mouth without being too heavy. This was wonderful in combination with the sweet starchiness of the vanilla mashed potatoes. The lemon foam was the bright citrus note that kind of cleaned up the palate and gave a subtle contrast to the dish.
"Esweet pizza" This was the moment of the greatest language barrier. Apparently I was hearing "Aragano" and thinking it was some sort of vegetable I had never heard of. Nope, oregano. This was a candied cherry tomato on top of a soft, almost mascarpone cheese, on top of an oregano salsa. There is a teeny piece of jamon just visible in this shot. Ok, I was a bit skeptical on this as I do not like tomatoes. This. Was. Incredible. It was very much "esweet pizza". The tomato had a bit of a candy shell on it and was just so sweet and delicious with a spoonful of the cheese and oregano. The salt of the jamon was very minor, at the time of this writing I sort of forgot it was there! What a wonderful end to an exciting meal!
Mi gente, the whole experience of A Fuego Negro was one of the highlights of my trip. And considering I pretty much ate the entire time I was in Spain, that's saying something. Now, there was one detail I left out and that was the wine. This is because I have forgotten the name of the wine I had (red, obviously) and I hope to Gaga that Cristobal will remember this for me as it was soooo good! There was a spectacular vanilla note to it with a light mouthfeel. As soon as I find it, I'm buying a case. That is how good it was! In any event, for those who find themselves in San Sebastian, this restaurant is a must! Salud to Roxette and company at A Fuego Negro. My apologies if I've incorrectly identified any ingredients, this is what happens when you make blog entries 3 weeks after the fact! Salud!
