Barcelona Food, Take Two
One of the great things about traveling is running into friends in unplanned new places. It turned out that a couple of friends were going to be in Barcelona at the same time we were. One was there for a tax in the EU conference (sexy!) and the other was tagging along for the fun.
As I had mentioned before, our neighborhood is a “real” neighborhood. We had passed a place almost daily that I was dying to eat at, called “L’Olive”. Doreen was reluctant to eat there, though I am not sure why. (You can check out some reviews here and here) I am sure that she had a good reason. It probably had to do with not subjecting friends to a place we never ate at, that I want to try merely on a hunch. Anyway, we talked to John (We met John, John, and Ono. Ono was Dutch) and he was game, so they took the Metro (which is easy and cheap) from their hotel to meet us in our neighborhood.
We walked to the place just as The Boys were getting a bit lost. A quick cell phone conversation and they were in front of the restaurant with us, and we looked at the wonderfully Catalan menu. It passed the test we all had, so we walked in and hoped for a table. It was still early by Spanish standards (about 10:00) and we were able to get a table for five without waiting. That made us all happy, so we traipsed into the place and settled at the table.
We were handed English/Spanish menus (no Catalan) and the waiter disappeared. He disappeared for a LONG time! We thought we had made them upset by being so blatantly not Catalonian. But, he came back eventually, and Ono won him over by asking him t o take a photo of the table (not recreated here because the batteries were dead) and then he took our order.
Doreen and I started with a glass of Cava, nobody else had a drink to start, and we ordered our meals. John had lentil salad for his starter and Grilled Tuna as his main course. John had Wild Green Asparagus for his starter and then Cod & Green Beans for his meal. Ono had Catalan Cannelloni and a Veal Steak. Doreen started with the (tame) White Asparagus, then had Cod and Ratatouille. I started with Tuna with Onions and Tomatoes, and then had the Lubino (Sea Bass) for my main course. We ordered one bottle of red wine (a Raimat Abadia) and one white (Gran Feudo from Julian Chivite)
The waiter recommended a specialty of the restaurant, and a local specialty, which is Bread with Olive Oil, Garlic, and Tomatoes. Now, it sounds like you can’t go wrong with that no matter what you do, but some of the places we have tried this it was nothing more than a pink smear on a dry crust of bread. Here, it was succulent. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Imagine rich, crusty bread, generously covered with chopped, ripe, home grown tomatoes, hand crushed garlic cloves, and first cold pressed olive oil from 1,000 year old trees. Now you’re cookin’! It was great. Even if the rest of the meal was cardboard, I would have been happy.
But, of course, the rest of the meal wasn’t cardboard. My tuna, though it looked like it was out of a can, was fresh and tender. The onions sharp and firm, the tomatoes as good as the ones smeared on the bread mentioned above. I didn’t have a bit of Doreen’s asparagus, but she assured me it was wonderful with some of that olive oil and mayonnaise. The other starters looked equally delicious. The most intriguing was the Catalonian Cannelloni. It was covered with cheesy goodness, and looked wonderful. And, of course, how can you possibly go wrong with wild asparagus or a pile of lentils?
The true payoff came with my main course, however. This fish, this Lubina, came strat from Catalonian heaven. Firm, flavorful, rich, and tender. Oh! What a Fish! I could have eaten it all day. Coupled with that nice white Catalonian wine – crisp and dry, grassy with nice acids biting you back, it was about perfect. Doreen’s cod was memorable mainly for the Ratatouille, and the rest of the meals looked good as well.
Our deserts, as with most of our deserts in Spain, were uneventful.
We stumbled home some hours later, and just reflected on how much fun it is to see people you know out of the usual context in which you see them.
As I had mentioned before, our neighborhood is a “real” neighborhood. We had passed a place almost daily that I was dying to eat at, called “L’Olive”. Doreen was reluctant to eat there, though I am not sure why. (You can check out some reviews here and here) I am sure that she had a good reason. It probably had to do with not subjecting friends to a place we never ate at, that I want to try merely on a hunch. Anyway, we talked to John (We met John, John, and Ono. Ono was Dutch) and he was game, so they took the Metro (which is easy and cheap) from their hotel to meet us in our neighborhood.
We walked to the place just as The Boys were getting a bit lost. A quick cell phone conversation and they were in front of the restaurant with us, and we looked at the wonderfully Catalan menu. It passed the test we all had, so we walked in and hoped for a table. It was still early by Spanish standards (about 10:00) and we were able to get a table for five without waiting. That made us all happy, so we traipsed into the place and settled at the table.
We were handed English/Spanish menus (no Catalan) and the waiter disappeared. He disappeared for a LONG time! We thought we had made them upset by being so blatantly not Catalonian. But, he came back eventually, and Ono won him over by asking him t o take a photo of the table (not recreated here because the batteries were dead) and then he took our order.
Doreen and I started with a glass of Cava, nobody else had a drink to start, and we ordered our meals. John had lentil salad for his starter and Grilled Tuna as his main course. John had Wild Green Asparagus for his starter and then Cod & Green Beans for his meal. Ono had Catalan Cannelloni and a Veal Steak. Doreen started with the (tame) White Asparagus, then had Cod and Ratatouille. I started with Tuna with Onions and Tomatoes, and then had the Lubino (Sea Bass) for my main course. We ordered one bottle of red wine (a Raimat Abadia) and one white (Gran Feudo from Julian Chivite)
The waiter recommended a specialty of the restaurant, and a local specialty, which is Bread with Olive Oil, Garlic, and Tomatoes. Now, it sounds like you can’t go wrong with that no matter what you do, but some of the places we have tried this it was nothing more than a pink smear on a dry crust of bread. Here, it was succulent. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Imagine rich, crusty bread, generously covered with chopped, ripe, home grown tomatoes, hand crushed garlic cloves, and first cold pressed olive oil from 1,000 year old trees. Now you’re cookin’! It was great. Even if the rest of the meal was cardboard, I would have been happy.
But, of course, the rest of the meal wasn’t cardboard. My tuna, though it looked like it was out of a can, was fresh and tender. The onions sharp and firm, the tomatoes as good as the ones smeared on the bread mentioned above. I didn’t have a bit of Doreen’s asparagus, but she assured me it was wonderful with some of that olive oil and mayonnaise. The other starters looked equally delicious. The most intriguing was the Catalonian Cannelloni. It was covered with cheesy goodness, and looked wonderful. And, of course, how can you possibly go wrong with wild asparagus or a pile of lentils?
The true payoff came with my main course, however. This fish, this Lubina, came strat from Catalonian heaven. Firm, flavorful, rich, and tender. Oh! What a Fish! I could have eaten it all day. Coupled with that nice white Catalonian wine – crisp and dry, grassy with nice acids biting you back, it was about perfect. Doreen’s cod was memorable mainly for the Ratatouille, and the rest of the meals looked good as well.
Our deserts, as with most of our deserts in Spain, were uneventful.
We stumbled home some hours later, and just reflected on how much fun it is to see people you know out of the usual context in which you see them.
posted by Dan Piette at 7:01 PM
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