Epicurean Ways Blog

Barcelona’s Eixample Courtyards

2009-11-03T15:04:00Z

Every Barcelona visitor spends time in the Eixample district, Barcelona’s 19th century “expansion” area and home to many great Moderniste buildings designed by Antoni Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and other lesser known architects. The district was conceived and designed by civil engineer Idelfons Cerdà 150 years ago. Cerdà’s plan included an open area at the center of every Eixample block for gardens and parks. These open spaces, often abused and filled in, are beginning to be recuperated, and the visitor can, with a little research, find these urban courtyards and gardens and spend a few tranquil hours between Passeig de Gràcia eating and shopping marathons. Here’s a bit more information.

Madrid and Toledo Trip

2009-10-13T03:42:00Z

Have you already been to Barcelona? Want to try Spain’s other great city? Check out Madrid before the year’s out.

We have a special departure in December for our Madrid trip. Seven days in food-centric Madrid and historic Toledo. Tapas tour, cooking classes with a Spanish master chef and a member of Spain’s Academy of Gastronomy, Madrid de las Austrias walking tour, Prado and Rein Sofia Museums, high-speed train to Toledo. Small group trip. December 10-17. Madrid is a high intensity, fashion conscious, gastronomic delight of a city.

Basque in Spanish and French

2009-10-01T02:17:01Z

Just as we are planning a 2010 trip to the Spanish and the French Basque regions, we see this article in the NY Times on those very regions. The two Basque “countries” are fascinating gastronomically and otherwise, with their food focused culture and the very different feels on either side of the border. We go for the food and are never disappointed.

Food as Art?

2009-09-23T17:00:01Z

Try this one on to challenge your conceptions of food and art. Read/watch Spanish chef José Andrés of Minibar, Washington, D.C. and art critic Blake Gopnik discuss radical food and art. In the Washington Post.

A Foodie’s Approach to Barcelona

2009-09-22T12:57:00Z

Judging by the number of Barcelona articles I see in newspapers, magazines, blogs and online travel sites, Barcelona outperforms other European destinations as the must-see city. It seems to appeal to all age, nationality, profession and interest groups, drawing in equal numbers North American college students, European hipsters, art and architecture fans, families with young kids in tow and serious foodies of all ages. In Barcelona Catalan sophistication shares the stage with an easy going Mediterranean spirit, making Barcelona one of the most comfortable cities in Europe. Innovative cuisine and a generous supply of top restaurants and market bars, avant-garde chocolate shops, traditional granjas (milk bars) and Moderniste cafes and bars tempt non-stop indulgence. But you want to hit it right, and for that you will need to plan.

With all the recommended spots to visit and eating experiences to be had, a little planning will help you organize your time in Barcelona. We have recently been sent two articles on Barcelona touring. Barcelona by bike, train and car will help you plan how to move around the city; Planning a Trip to Barcelona? from the always excellent blog on Spanish food and wine Catavino lays out a one day food and wine itinerary in the city. And a comprehensive one at that!

Have you had any food and wine experiences in Barcelona that you would recommend to others? Restaurants, bars, specialty food shops? We would love to hear about them!

Reina Sofia Museum Free After 7

2009-09-16T02:44:00Z

The Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid now has weekday evening entry free of charge, from 7 to 9 PM. Home most famously of Picasso’s Guernica depicting the aftermath of the German bombing of the Basque village of the same name in 1937. Don’t miss the stunning collection of modern art in the Reina Sofia’s collection.

Spanish Painter Joaquín Sorolla

2009-08-20T17:58:00Z

Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla captured the Mediterranean light better perhaps than any Impressionist painter. His native Valencia was his source of inspiration for his paintings of fishermen, children and horses on the beach. He was also a portrait painter in Spain and in the U.S.

Sorolla is little known in the U.S. despite the large number of his works commissioned by Archer Milton Huttington of the Hispanic Society in New York in the early part of the 20th century. The large body of Sorolla’s paintings and sculptures are found both in New York at the Hipanic Society and in Madrid at the Museo Sorolla, housed in his family’s Madrid residence–a beautiful villa style house worth visiting in itself.

See this brief WSJ article on Sorolla and the exhibition in Madrid closing, unfortunately, on September 6.

La Gomera Wine and Whistles

2009-08-18T15:35:00Z

Spain has a new wine appellation–the Denominación de orígen La Gomera. La Gomera is one of the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa with a subtropical climate. The heights of the island lie permanently shrouded in clouds and the Garajonay National Park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. Gomera is also known – and for me from my years of studying Spanish linguistics forever associated with – the Gomeran Whistle or whistling language still used on the island.

A number of grape varieties make up the permitted types for the wines produced in the DO La Gomera. For more information see El Día. (in Spanish)

Enchanted Cuenca

2009-08-10T22:32:00Z

Cuenca, lying between Madrid and Valencia, is definetely worth a visit to see the unique cliff-side houses, Museum of Abstract Art, and taste the traditional cuisine. Highly recommended is Las Rejas Restaurant where chef Manuel de la Osa creates inspired modern versions of the traditional fare. See this article describing a Cuenca visit.

Catalunya in September

2009-06-09T04:17:00Z

We are offering a special on one of our most popular culinary trips in Catalunya: Catalan Cooking in the Empordà. Our September 5-10 trip will be $200 per person off the regular price for bookings made by August 1. Come along for 6 days in a little-visited region of Spain north of Barcelona.

You will have private cooking classes with a Catalan chef, take a private sailboat trip on the Mediterranean where a chef will cook a fisherman’s lunch for you, visit wineries of the Empordà appellation, taste olive oil at an olive oil mill, spend time in medieval villages near the Costa Brava, eat at traditional Catalan restaurants and dine at acclaimed two-Michelin starred El Celler de Can Roca. Minimum number of travelers needed for guaranteed departure is 4. See the description here.

Álvaro Palacios

2009-06-09T01:51:00Z

Spanish winemaker Álvaro Palacios creates some of Spain’s most remarkable wines from his vineyards in the Rioja, Priorat and Bierzo regions. Here’s an article in Wines From Spain
describing Palacios’ strong connection to the land where he grows his grapes–his sense of terroir.

Spain scores high on World’s 50 Best Restaurants list

2009-04-25T21:42:00Z

Spanish cooking has made headlines in recent years, with the world’s attention focused on the high quality traditional cooking as well as the innovative molecular gastronomy practiced by leading chefs. The restaurant magazine-S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list places Spanish restaurants in 4 of the top 10. Ferrán Adrià’s El Bulli restaurant in Catalunya has been in the number one spot–The World’s Best Restaurant– for 4 years in a row. Andoni Luis Aduriz’s Mugaritz in the Basque country is in 4th place, Joan Roca’s El Celler de Can Roca shot from 21st to 5th place, and everyone’s favorite, Arzak, comes in 8th.

Other restaurants in Spain on the top 50 list include Martin Berasategui–the benchmark in contemporary Basque cooking (33rd place)–and Asador Etxebarri in 39th place. Asador Etxebarri near San Sebastián is barbeque turned art form, or so they say. I know where I’m eating next time I’m in San Sebastián.

See The World’s 50 Best.

36 Hours in Barcelona

2009-04-24T20:11:00Z

Barcelona is a wonderland of edgy design hotels and restaurants, down to earth eateries filled with the working public at lunchtime, and a nightlife that won’t quit. It’s got beaches in town, food markets with market cafes and Mediterranean breezes. What more could you want? See 36 Hours in Barcelona in the New York Times.

Traveling Alone

2009-04-16T14:42:00Z

If you travel alone, especially if you are female, refresh your memory on a few simple safe travel precautions, compiled by the American Society of Travel Agents. See the tips.

The Surprising Wines of the Comunitat Valenciana

2009-04-13T03:58:00Z

Guest Blog: Gerry Dawes

The exotic, once Moorish-dominated Comunitat Valenciana— which encompasses the provinces of Valencia, Alicante and Castelló—and its capital, the ancient, but suddenly ultramodern and rapidly growing Mediterranean port city of Valencia, have long been known for its namesake oranges, its sunny beaches that have become nirvana for northern Europeans who flock to Valencia like Americans do to Florida, and its wild end-of-winter, rites-of-spring fiesta called Las Fallas.