A Fuego Negro

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!

A Coruña in one day

Bueno todos, next on the journey was A Coruña.  This little gem of a city is at the northwestern tip of Spain.  I will summarize by saying seafood, Maria Pita, and David Bisbal.  So, we got here at about midnight on Sunday meaning we had just one complete day to see and eat our way through the town.  Unfortunately for Chris, this was a town who knows it's seafood.  But fortunately for him we discovered El Rey de Jamon or The Ham King.  Really, this was the name of the restaurant.  After checking out the Tower of Hercules for a good part of the morning and then me completely forgetting to catalogue lunch, we made our way to la Plaza de Maria Pita who famously put the smackdown on Sir Francis Drake.  Here we discovered large speakers set up and the makings of some goings on.  Diana decided to ask about this and we were treated to the knowledge that we happened upon the city on the first day of la Fiesta de Maria Pita!  Que suerte chicos!  We also gleaned that David Bisbal himself would play a free concert that very night on the beach!  Win!  But before that happened, we had to eat!

I told you!  I told you about the ham!  This was some amazing jamon Iberico.  Served up at El Rey de Jamon.  We also grabbed a plate of Manchego cheese and Queso de Tetilla.  No word of a lie, that is what it's called.

We moved on from the Ham King and over to a little seafood place where we had some tasty Razor Clams and this giant scallop called a Vieira.  Covered in a tomato sauce, this was pretty tasty and is the symbol of el Camino de Santiago.  After all the eating, a trip back to the hotel and then off to the beach for Bisbal and beers that come served in plastic cups...liter sized!  Gracias Maria Pita!  Gracias A Coruña!

The Last of Salamanca

Hola,  it's been awhile.  So since I last blogged, I've taken a bus from Salamanca to A Coruña and a car from there to San Sebastian.  Lot's of travel.  Lots of beautiful scenery.  Lots of tasty foods.  I'm in love with la vida Español!  This whole siesta thing NEEDS to be brought to the U.S.A. muy pronto!  I wake up in the morning feeling like cafe con leche. (you were thinking P. Diddy weren't you?)  And I eat some sort of pastry.  Then it's a few short hours until a big lunch just before siesta!  Then it's sort of a waiting game unil dinner when you go out at about 9 pm and bar hop, eating pintxos and having small glasses of beer or wine or cider.  Good stuff.  So let me take you through the rest of Salamanca and bring you up to speed here in San Sebastian.

Salamanca.  OK so you think you've had ham before?  You have not!  This is the place for ham.  Serrano and Iberico.  Great big legs hanging from ceilings ready to be sliced thin and consumed in mass quantity.  Menu del Dia?  Yes please.  2 different dishes, plus dessert, plus wine or beer for 10 Euros?  Bring it.  My first one of these was at a little place near la Universidad called Cafe Bar Mandala.
First course is a Phyllo dough type empanada filled with veggies and cheese served with a watercress salad drizzled with balsamico.

Next up, Solomillo served with a mustard sauce that was very honey mustard.  Also, everything is served with fries.  Seriously.

And for dinner which Anamaria's padres so graciously took us out for: Chuleton!  This chop of beef was served asado (grilled) and was absolutely delicious.  Note the fries in the background.  Really.  Fries are everywhere!

AirFrance Hates Me

I planned so carefully.  There were so many chances for things to go right.  This is about what went wrong.  OK, i should start off with the fact that it was all so very worthwhile, but getting here was the battle of a lifetime.  Oh Air France, I will never ever fly with you again.  You did not call me when you changed my flight to an hour later.  Luckily I was checking email.  You also did not make it clear that you would change both my flight from Boston as well as put me on a new and later flight from Paris to Madrid.  Fine.  I dealt with it.  But when I get to Logan, and you tell me that my flight is further delayed because you cannot find a part for the airplane and you have to find this and fix it before I can fly... well that just doesn't instill a sense of confidence.   5:30 pm flight?  No.  8 pm flight.  You may have won me over with a good movie selection and a tasty meal and trying to ply me with much booze.  But you then lost in a huge way when you get me to Paris at 9:05am for a 9:35am connection.  Trying to be optimistic after we had to take shuttle buses to the terminal, I ran through 2 terminals only to miss the connection.  Oh and customs people, thanks for that passport screening.  Very thorough.  Perhaps one might do more than take a nanosecond glance if they were concerned about security, but perhaps that's just the way things are done in Paris.  JO, I cannot express to you how useful the cell phone is.  I will be eternally grateful for that.  Ok, so next flight ALSO shuttled to plane.  Seriously, what is it with this airport?!  Arrive in Madrid with 1/2 hour to get to train station.  Bag comes around the carousel (win!) and I proceed right out the door.  No customs necessary... wait, what?  Great, now I panic and need to make sure i get cleared on this so I don't get put in some Spanish federal prison when I try to get back home.  5 tourism/info desks y la policia nacional later and I get the ok about the passport with a handy "No pasa nada."  Taxi to train station (25 Euro is way too much for that) where I used my best Spanish to buy a train ticket AND recargar the cell phone with some Euros.  The guy at the phone place was super helpful and met me halfway with some English.  I should mention that the entire time I was in Madrid, the cell phone didn't work and I was unable to communicate any of what had been happening to Chris or Diana.  Hello, anxiety attack?  But super hombre at the cell place helped me fix it.  So from here on out it gets really good.   I had a really lovely train ride through the Spanish countryside, passing windmills (think modern, not Don Quixote), fields of sunflowers, Roman aquaducts, and the walled city of Avila, and just really great scenery in general.  About 3 hours later I make it to Salamanca.  Epic. Win. 

Chris picks me up from the train station and we make it back to his residencia where I have about 10 min to wash up and get ready to go out.  Of course that was totally worth it, but I felt like I was going to die at any second.  Met lots of really cool people at the graduation reception in this ancient cloister.  We then went to Bambu for canas (I'll get Chris to show me how to do the ~ thing later) which are draft beers and each one come with a pintxo (tapas)!!!  This is how it should be done everywhere people!  I had lots of different things including blood sausage on a baguette (not a fan) and this amazing grilled pork.  As well as albondigas (meatballs) and housemade mini sausages with potatoes and peppers.  Then off to la Plaza Mayor which is stunning and we walked around, and then kicked back and listened to the Tuna (sp.) a group of dudes who basically dress up like the Swiss Guard and play old school instruments and sing and drink cider and chain smoke.  Awesome.  We finished off the night at a local bar where more canas cost 2 Euros each. 

Are you curious about the food?  Los pintxos?  Wait no longer...

This was a melon soup with slice of crispy ham.

And these were spoons of carmelized onions with a chunk of pork.  Manchego cheese is fanned out in the background.

Pre-Spain Work

So to kick things off I figured I'd go back in time about a week to a related event.  OK, you caught me, I actually needed to experiment with adding photos with this whole blog technology...always learning.  You see, I minored in Spanish but when you don't have to use those skills (and they were minimal) you tend to lose them.  So I thought to myself "How can I combine my love of food AND learn to speak the Spanish better?"  AH!  I invite over my Spanish speaking friends for an all Spanish/Latin meal and we are allowed to speak in Spanish only!  The menu consisted of white sangria, Andalucian White Gazpacho, Black Bean Citrus Salad, and these little beauties...grilled tofu marinated in Argentinian Style Chimmichurri.  These were good, but I think I need some more tofu cooking practice!  Anyway, it was a fun 3 hours and though I don't have the vocabulary to talk about re-finishing furniture, I think I held up pretty well.  Thanks to my ladies for helping me develop my conversation skills.  I'm going to need them very shortly!

The Countdown

So, here we are. One year ago I knew I was going to make this epic journey. Do you think I prepared as well as I should've? No. But therein lays the adventure. My Spanish is not quite where I hoped it would be, so I'm going to rely on my skillful representation of concepts using hand gestures. I will make the first part of the trip on my own. Getting myself from JP to the airport and flying first to Paris and then to Madrid all on my own. Luckily, there is a plan to have me meet up with Diana's bf in Madrid for our train travel to Salamanca.

I should point out that I make no promises on this blog. I really started it so I could try and catalog the varied and splendorous foods I would sample on this trip. It is my hope to include some fotos of what I'm eating and descriptions of it all. Along the way I imagine some images and stories of our travels. If I don't get to it...well, you've been warned ahead of time. Flight is at 5:30pm tomorrow. Wish me luck!

~Besos