Tuesday, February 09, 2010

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.

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Signature vest and thumbs

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Steamed clams

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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.

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Tortillas - omelettes

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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. 

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

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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

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2 Comments:

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