Bar Pinotxo and El Quim - Barcelona, Spain

Been pretty busy with travel, life, and whatnot; this post will be the last of Barcelona. Anyway - markets are all good, but what happens if you don't cook? Eat someone else's cooking (story of my life). Bar Pinotxo and El Quim are the most well-known of the tapas bars in La Boqueria. Juanito Bayen is the owner of Bar Pinotxo, which occupies some precious real estate near the main entrance of the market. This jolly man is in his 70s, but has more zest of life than most of my 20-something peers.


Signature vest and thumbs


Steamed clams


Garbanzo beans

It really is a feat how the man and his nephew deal with all the vague orders; customers just seem to point at ingredients and mutter things in broken Spanish. I guess the trick is that they don't really know what they're getting either. Regardless, anything Juanito serves up tends to be fresh and pretty tasty.

El Quim de la Boqueria
El Quim occupies some less lucrative real estate near the middle of the market, right near the entrance to the seafood section. Its specialty is runny fried eggs with baby squids in its ink: what I would deem a most genius breakfast dish.


Tortillas - omelettes


Chipiron a la plancha - Baby squid seared on a flatiron griddle w/ sherry vinaigrette. El Quim's signature dish actually comes with fried egg, but this alone was delicious in all its inky glory. 


Champiñones - Sauteed mixed mushrooms with honey. What I immediately labeled the "burnt mushroom crème brulée." Would not order this one again.


Sardinas a la plancha - Brokeback mountain of sardines. Fresh sardines grilled to achieve a layer of delicate, crispy skin along with a dash of sea salt. Breakfast was a great success.

Bar Pinotxo
La Boqueria 466-467,
La Rambla 89

El Quim de la Boqueria
La Boqueria 586-606,
La Rambla 101

Mercat de la Boqueria - Barcelona, Spain

La Boqueria is one of the world's most iconic food markets - a huge, bustling public bazaar featuring a wide variety of very fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood, meats, and dairy products. The selection is diverse enough to make even the most decisive of shoppers fall victim to paralysis of choice. Though it is located right on La Rambla, the market is still very much frequented by locals. The energy in this place is incredible; it really is quite something to pause and take in all the sights, sounds and smells around you. But, when and if you decide to gawk, beware the aggressive old ladies with stroller carts - a sure fixture in any notable food market around the world; what a strange phenomenon.




Butcherettes cutting meat with as much gusto as their male counterparts


The famous egg stall that everyone takes a picture of




Small crab


Big crab


Exotic fruit


Packaged fruit


Really well lined up fruit (truly mind boggling)

La Boqueria
La Rambla 91
08002 Barcelona
93 318 25 84

Hours: 8am-8.30pm Mon-Sat

Restaurante Moo - Barcelona, Spain

In the lobby of the chic Hotel Omm in Barcelona is one-star Restaurante Moo, overseen by the Roca brothers - the three chef/owners of the much celebrated three-star El Celler De Can Roca in Girona. Can Roca is one of the restaurants on the forefront of avant-garde Catalan cuisine; having read the two reviews from Chuck, it had been one of my to-visits ever since. Unfortunately, we did not have time to make it to Girona on this trip, so Moo would have to suffice as the closest thing to getting a sense, however far removed, of the Roca's creations.

It must also be noted that the Cap de Sumillers at Moo is Roger Viusà Barbara, who won Best European Sommelier WSA in 2008. The world's best sommelier, and a very gracious fellow to boot.


Canapés


Foie gras mousse in cherry candy shells - quite good.


"Our appetizer" - Oyster on crostini with julienned green apple, celery, and hazelnut sauce


Our Russian salad
Fino Piedra Luenga. Bod. Robles /G/ Montilla-Moriles / Pedro Ximenes

Ensaladilla rusa, a Spanish variation of Russian salad, is pretty ubiquitous in Spain. Here, Moo replaces tuna with chunks of barely-seared toro, and puts a lighter touch on all the usual ingredients: baked red pepper crisps, potatoes, green peas, shaved pickled carrot, and a dollop of vinegary mayonnaise. High quality ingredients on their own, unified by a modern, sensible interpretation of the Spanish/Russian classic.


Scallop with chervil
Dom Mouscaillo 06 /B/ Limoux / Chardonnay


Sea bass with green beans and ginger
Pezas da Portella 06. Val de Sil /B/ Valdeorras / Godello

The bass was seared nicely and accented with some strong but delicate aromas from the accompanying ginger/haricot vert slivers and broth. Done well, but nothing too exciting here.


Lamb’s Shoulder with paprika
Roda II 98 /T/ Rioja / Tempranillo, garnacha

Cooking sous vide and/or at low temperatures is a signature style of the Rocas; the lamb here is prepared to achieve a texture similar to suckling pig, with a thin, nearly-crackling layer of skin. Well-flavored, but a tad dry.


Pigeon with stew cereals
Cims de porrera 00. Coop Agrícola de Porrera /T/ Priorat / Grenache

The medium rare pigeon slices, subtly gamey and untouched by additional seasoning, were completely overwhelmed by the side of quinoa and barley. In addition to being oversalted, the cereals were unpalatably hard and chewy. An unbalanced dish and my least favorite course of the day.


Cheese

The previous course was somewhat redeemed by the cheese course; manchego comes in two styles: subtle and smooth as a gelato, and sharp and spicy in its natural form, both brought together by a tart green apple puree.


Mango, coconut and wheat
Saint Aubin 08. Dom. Delesvaux /D/ Coteaux Du Layon / Chenin blanc


Tiramisu
Donato degli Antinori /D/ Vin Santo/ Trebbiano

The concept of Restaurante Moo works well as a trendy restaurant in a swank hotel. It serves up a solid tasting menu that is fairly well-executed and beautifully plated, and the wines are excellent. The food itself is nothing to write home about: not wildly inventive, if rather ordinary. There is no show stopping meal here, but there really could be no comparison to Can Roca, tucked away in Girona where the three brothers are actually running the restaurant. Come to the hotel in Barcelona for the bar/people watching, but take a trip to Girona for the food.

€100.00 - Joan Roca’s Tasting Menu (~$170 - September 2009)
€40.00 - "Wines that harmonize"

Restaurante Moo
Rosselló 265
08008 Barcelona
+34 934454000

Tapaç 24 - Barcelona, Spain

El Bulli announced today that it is serving no meals in 2012 and 2013 but will instead refocus and noodle on new ideas. Unfortunately, it's one less reason to hop a plane to Spain; though, who really needed a reason to begin with?

So, if you find yourself sans EB reservations in Barcelona, you can count on one of the restaurants of Carles Abellan, best known for his acclaimed Comerç 24 and for having apprenticed under Ferran Adrià. Apparently he was hired to work for 15 days but stayed around for 15 years, which tells me he's probably pretty darn good at his job! Tapaç 24 is his casual tapas restaurant in Eixample that employs some of the modern techniques he learned during his tenure at EB.


Gaspatxo l'alfàbrega €4.5 - Gazpacho with basil oil.

Albergínia & Mel €5 - Fried eggplant with honey (unpictured). Delicately fried cubes of eggplant, with a thin caramelized crust from honey. Very good. 


Gambitas €16. The lightly fried shrimp (with all parts intact) was very fresh and featured some succulent, sweet flesh. Simply prepared and quite good.


Coca de recapte €6 - Flatbread with sardines. A creative take on the traditional Catalan food: crunchy bread is spread with a creamy bean dip with tomatoes, then topped with fresh sardines dressed in olive oil. The sardines were high quality, but altogether this was surprisingly bland and just ok compared to our other selections. 


Hummus €5.5.


Entraña con chimichurri €8 - Skirt steak with chimichurri sauce. This was very tasty and my favorite plate of our meal. Skirt steak is grilled medium and thinly sliced; the pieces are then drizzled with hot chili oil and topped with red pepper bits, fresh herbs, and sea salt. The beef packed a ton of flavor and the generous addition of hot oil made this one very addicting.

Tapaç 24 is a fun, casual place that serves up modern variations of traditional tapas featuring some very fresh seafood. Some plates are more memorable than others, but primarily everything is good quality and quite tasty. The cozy space, which centers around a pulsing open kitchen, creates a noisy, lively scene of young expats and locals. If you are still not satisfied by the healthy beer and wine selection at T 24, this politically-minded bar right around the corner cannot be missed.



Tapaç 24
Diputació 269, Eixample
Barcelona 08007
+34 934 880 977

Obama
Gran via de les Corts Catalanes 603
Barcelona 08007
+34 93 301 65 24