Another Priceless Experience: Publican Quality Meats

A Spacious table and we would get to watch all the food
cooked behind us.

I’ve been to the Publican about 2 years ago for Chicago’s Chef week, so I knew there was good food to be had there.  The fresh made pork rinds made themselves onto Food Network’s Best Thing I Ever Ate.  Yeah I knew it would be a little tough to stay up for a dinner the night after coming back from Europe, but I couldn’t miss out on the experience.  It was something that I couldn’t think of missing unless I had some type of life threatening illness.   I somehow wasn’t even tired at all when it rolled around, I attribute that to a combination of excitement and the relaxing flight that I had in Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic  (BTW, my Premium Economy Upgrade for $300 was only sort of worth it).

Butchers hard at work after a beef delivery

It was my first time at Publican Quality Meats which does all of the butchering for The Publican as well as bakes all of the bread.  A talk with Chef Kahn and you find that they can not keep up with the meat demand for all of the amazing cuts of sausage and cured meats that they sell at Publican Quality Meats.  The evening started with a few welcome hors d'oeuvres.   Among them were many of those awesome cured meats and those famed pork rinds.  You also had a seafood tower there. 

Dinner was served downstairs in the kitchen and after a quick tour through the meat locker, we were ready to eat.  It is crazy how hungry seeing a bunch of hanging cured meats makes you.  We all sat down at a large communal table and introduced ourselves one by one as Chef Khan prepared his first dish.  Though as we started eating you would have thought that we were all lifelong friends judging based on the loud and s  Every dish had a wine paring.  I am a beer person as well and they also had a beer paring for every dish, but I figured it unwise to try seven beers and seven glasses of wine when I had to make it all the way back to Romeoville somehow that night.

Let the curing begin

First up to the plate was the Hamachi Crudo.  This dish won based on pure simplicity.  You get the freshness of the Hamachi in a winning combination with the lemon oil providing a slight touch of acid.  The fresno chilies give a little bit of spice as well.  Lemon, seafood and fresno chillies is a combination that I love.  I use it to make a quick supper with only the addition of some mussels, garlic, white wine and pasta.  I think I might have stolen that dish from Gordon Ramsey though, don’t quote me.  The dishes were served family style and I was seated next to two people that took very dainty portions so it gave me the opportunity to finish off every plate.  There wouldn’t be a dish that disappointed me. 

Sides of Beef  Delivered Earlier in the Day

Next up was the asparagus panzenella salad.  When I usually think of panzenella I think of combining Italian bread with olive oil Basil, tomatoes and Parmaggino Reggiano. This took a bit of a different approach to that.    You had their country bread there with the salty elements coming from the olives that were strewn throughout the salad.  The English Peas added a freshness to the salad and you had the radish sprouts and arugula for a bit of spiciness   All of those tasty ingredients were bound together in a lemon caper vinaigrette that was very light and slightly acidic.  The brightness it added was like a little flashlight awakening all your entire palate to taste the individual nuances of each vegetable that worked so well together in this dish.

Steaks Aging away

I love Mussels Frites, so I was so excited to see it on the menu.  My favorite part of the dish is the broth.  When it comes to making mussels, your dish lives or dies based on how good the broth is.  When those guys open themselves up and release that fresh briny juices into the pan it creates this broth that can be a culinary miracle if used correctly.  Realistically, when making mussels, the broth should be so good that if given the choice between having a little broth and some mussels or a lot of broth and some crusty bread, you would easily take the broth and bread to soak up the liquid gold that lines your bowl.  Now take those perfectly tender mussels and that luscious broth and combine them with some awesome French fries, and a garlic aioli to dip them in and you have a winning (though very fattening) dish.  Mussels Frites is one of those anomalies of a dish where it completely socially acceptable to dip French fries into mayonnaise.

Mussels

Next up was the star of the show.  More than anything Publican is known for pork.  I mean look at the Yelp reviews, after scrolling through pages describing how awesome some of their pork dishes are, you may be able to find one thing that is kosher if you look hard enough.  Here you had a dish that was just simply mind-blowing.  It was comforting as it reminded me of breakfast of grits and bacon when I was growing up.  This was so much better though, the grits were so rich and creamy.  They had a really buttery flavor to them and were accented by the light onion taste from the leeks.  The pork belly was cooked perfectly, playing on that edge of sweet and saltiness that everyone loves together.    As if things couldn’t get better you had a side of a spring vegetable ragout with a poached egg.  Slicing into a perfectly poached  egg is one of the things I love most in food.  When you have that egg yolk run out and coat the entire plate it is blissful.  That egg yolk with the parmesan came together to create the perfect sauce for the perfect side for a perfect plate of food.

Hamachi Crudo

By this time I was completely full, that wouldn’t stop me from tasting a bit of the next two dishes though.  All of their steaks are aged in house.  I couldn’t pass up on an opportunity to taste a couple bites of my favorite cut of meat.  Ribeye.   Nothing beats a well marbled bone in ribeye steak when it comes to grilling.  It is the juiciest cut of steak and it just screams out at you with the flavor of beefy goodness.  The steak was cooked to a perfect mid rare, and though I did enjoy both pieces quite a bit, the sear was a little much and gave off a bit of a smoky quality that didn’t bring it to the unrealistically high standard I had set for it in my mind.

Then as if further reading my mind, was my favorite dessert.  I only took a single bite of the cheesecake but the star of that dish was the

Pork Belly

amazing honey that was on the plate.  It goes to show that a great honey can make a lot of difference and bring the taste of a dish to a new level.  They do sell that honey in the store, I just was too caught up in good conversation to remember to ask if I could buy some.  Next time I make it to Chicago I will check it out though.

All in all I’ve been to two of Mastercard’s Priceless experiences, and they have been an amazing value and each one has really felt priceless.  I wouldn’t trade this night for just about anything… Except a trip to Barcelona in the summertime but who can really compete with the beaches of Barcelona?

No Animals Harmed 2: Vegan Potstickers with Kohlrabi and Chow Mein

I had been wanting to make these potstickers for a long time.  These sorts of dishes are ones that I have a bit of a love hate relationship for.  It is easy to have a bit of disdain for the completely repetitive nature of the task that you have when it comes to making potstickers from scratch.  Whether it is potsickers, ravioli or any other type of small stuffed item.  The effort that you put forth is definitely worth it to achieve the beautiful results.  It starts off slow at first but once you get the hang of it you really start to go pretty fast. It’s pretty cool to see just how many you can get done once you really get the hang of it.

One of my favorite vegetables is kohlrabi.  It is a little hard to find sometimes and it tastes like a combination of broccoli and cabbage.  In a pinch for this recipe you could easily substitute a peeled stem of broccoli in for the kohlrabi bulbs used inside of the potstickers.  You can also sub in most any type of green for the kohlrabi greens used in the chow mein.  Kohlrabi is definitely worth searching for at your local farmer’s market though.  I seek it out every time it comes into season.

Kohlrabi Tofu Potstickers

Ingredients:

1 package super firm oraganic sprouted Tofu

2 Tablespoons Sirracha

1/8 cup Tamari (or soy or Liquid aminos)

4 Tablespoons Cashew butter

3 Tablespoons Cilantro

1 Bunch Kohlrabi

2 Cloves garlic

1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil

½ Bunch Scallions

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

½ Quart of Vegetable stock (You can also use water here, but I like the extra flavor that the veg  stock adds make sure you have low sodium broth or make your own without salt or as the stock cooks off you will be left with unbearably salty dumplings.)

1 package wonton wrappers (There are vegan and gluten free brands out there, but I honestly didn’t search for them for this dish.  I was not at all thinking about eggs being an ingredient in the wontons, after searching around the internet a bit the best place to find them are Asian markets and Whole Foods)

1. Combine all the ingredients, save the wonton wrappers of course and the kohlrabi, in a food processor until you come out with a thick paste.  Make sure you remove all excess liquid from the tofu before you take it too the food processor.  The mixture should be thick enough to stick to a spoon for a couple of seconds if you hold it in the air a bit.  If you screw up and add too much liquid (as I did in my first batch by having nearly double the amount of tamari and not squeezing the liquid out of my tofu very well), then you can add more tofu to thicken things back up.
2. Peel and dice the Kohlrabi, reserving the greens for the chow mein.  (A note on peeling Kohlrabi, it is one of those vegetables that you have to peel it much more than you think you have to peel it, and make sure you remove all of the woody end on the bottom).  Once you’re done with your dicing mix it in with your Tofu mixture.  (When I made this originally, with the two packages of tofu, I only needed Kohlrabi from two of the three bulbs that came in my bunch.  Use your best judgment for home much kohlrabi you want in  the tofu to provide a nice bit of textural difference without it turning into diced up kohlrabi with a bit of tofu mixed in.  I would suggest one bulb of kohlrabi for this recipe about 1/3 of a cup diced).
3. Form your potstickers being sure not to overstuff.  For me I used a heaping teaspoon for each wrapper.  I overstuffed on the first couple, but make sure you have room to close.   To set up for this I keep a small dish of water nearby to wet the edges of the wrapper before folding and sealing it up.  I find the easiest way to make them look cool is to fold all the point together when you’re using square wrappers.  If you’re using actual dumpling wrappers, from the Asian market I was too lazy to drive too, they come in a circle and you would do fill them the same using a little water to seal the edges, and you can just fold them  in half.  I took a dumpling making class once so I know the method behind folding and sealing dumplings but it's hard to find a good youtube video to explain it.... Maybe I should make one.
4. I have to do this in a few batches, so I heat a tablespoon of the coconut oil over medium high heat and then add the potstickers.  I cook them until I see them browning around the bottom and add just enough stock to go about an eighth of an inch up the side of the dumplings.  Then I cover, and cook until the steam nearly stops (about 10 minutes).

Filling Ignore the arm

Bringing em together. (Ugly ones weren't folded by me)

Potsticker Dipping Sauce (Super Easy and Super Optional)

¼ Cup of Mirin

Juice of 1 lime

1 Tablespoon Sirracha (More if you like things spicy).

1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil

1 Tablespoon Sesame seeds

1. Combine ingredients and whisk together.

Kohlrabi Green and Mushroom Chow Mein

Kohlrabi Greens Washed and chopped

8 oz Mushrooms, roughly chopped or sliced (I tend to buy whatever mushroom is on sale and for this dish it happened to be cremini.  Button, shitake, Oyster, Enoki, even portabella would make a good sub though).

2-8 oz pacakges Udon Noodles (See above blurb about the wonton wrappers)

1 Medium yellow onion sliced

1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil

2 Tablespoons Tamari

2 Tablespoons Garlic Chili Paste

1. Sautee the onions, mushrooms and remaining diced kohlrabi if you have any left in the coconut oil, while bringing a pot of water for the Udon noodles to boil.
2.  Add the noodles to boiling water and stir until they separate.  Add the greens to the pan with the mushrooms as soon as you add the noodles.
3. Cook the noodles stirring until they separate and drain.
4. Add the noodles to the pan with the mushrooms and add the soy and chili paste.  Cook while stirring until the greens are just melted and the noodles take on color from the soy and chili paste.

Barcelona: End of the Eurotrip

My morning flight was a bit too early for me to take advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel.  In another couple of hours on a cramped flight I was in Barcelona.  Finally after arriving in Barcelona, I got the chance to break out the shorts and sunglasses, a welcomed change from the moderately kind of cold hoodie weather that I had in the rest of Europe.  I don’t know much Spanish, but I knew enough to help me get around quite a bit which made navigating around the city a bit easier based on how much of the language I do understand.

Inside the room at Barcelona Hilton

I took a bus out to where I would take the train from.  I had downloaded all of my directions in advance to make things easier.  I bought a 2 day pass for the train, but in hindsight a 10 trip pass would have been cheaper and gotten me through my entire visit.  My hotel for my trip in Barcelona would be the Hilton Barcelona.  The directions to get there were pretty simple.  A bus ride, then a train ride and then it was a short walk to the hotel.

It proved to be slightly more complicated than I imagined as I walked back and forth past the hotel several times.   It only had a couple of blue Hilton flags to identify it that were recessed a bit from the actual street.  I felt a little silly when I finally found it.  I went to the front desk to check in and I was behind probably the most annoying person in the world go get behind for checking in.  I waited in line for about 20 minutes in order to check in.  When I finally checked in I was offered the choice of a room on the third floor or waiting for a room on a higher floor.  I just wanted to check in so I opted for the lower floor.

Pan Con Tomate

This hotel has that numbering system where even numbers are on one side in one hallway and odd numbered rooms are on the other side.  I didn’t notice this when I first got off of the elevator and it lead to few more seconds of aimless wandering.  Once I made it into the room I turned on the TV to watch a little bit while I freshened up and as I was changing channels I came across that iconic scene from Back to the Future where Marty is playing the guitar at the dance.   Instantly I was like this is freaking awesome.  Then came in the weirdness of audio dubbed over in Spanish that made an otherwise perfect moment a little bit more memorable.

I was starving so I decided to get something to eat right next door at Piscolabis.  It is a tapas restaurant right next door to the hotel so I didn’t have to wander far.  The menu is quite large but most of what I wanted to try was absent from the menu.  I couldn’t complain too much because it was pretty early on a Sunday.  He also suggested pretty good replacements.  I mean you can’t really complain that much when you are selecting from over 60 dishes.

Tapas at Piscolabis

I had the pan con tomate.  It was simple, but you really get the freshness of the tomatoes.  It’s only charred bread that it is rubbed with tomatoes.  I know you might be thinking “what’s so great about that?”  It’s because the tomatoes have such a vibrant flavor of tomatoes.  It’s almost like eating a tomato for the first time.   The bread is perfect too.  It is very light and chewy and has this really crisp crust.

Next up I got a chance to try the ham croquettes.  They were made with the gold standard of ham.  Iberico ham comes from black Iberian pigs, which are fed a diet which is mostly acorns.  This renders a fat that has much higher HDL and lower LDL.  It also gives the ham a very rich flavor.  Being from Miami, and ham croquettes being a staple of Cuban cuisine, I’ve had much more than my fair share of ham croquettes over the years.   These were however the best that I’ve ever had.  The quality of the ham goes a long way and the fatty nature of it gives you a croquette that is most and crisp on the outside.

The richness of the food I had didn’t stop there as I ended up getting the foie gras cannelloni as well.  It was an absolute triumph as the pasta was cooked absolutely perfectly.   It also had this great rich sauce that was slightly earthy.  I also had the vegetable tempura with romesco sauce.  My favorite this array of fired vegetables was the asparagus.  The light batter that only a tempura can provide was perfect for it.  The romseco brought in the brightness of the sweet ripe tomatoes that are throughout Europe.  European tomatoes are better than any I’ve ever had in the US.

Barcelona's Beautiful Beach

I then made my way to the beach it was an absolutely beautiful day outside as well.  Up until this point I thought that South Beach was the most beautiful beach in the world.  That isn’t even close to true Platja de la Barceloneta is phenomenal.  This is coming from a person that usually doesn’t like beaches as well.   The weather was absolutely perfect.  The sand wasn’t hot at all.  It was just warm enough to entice you to get into the water but not too warm as to make it a requirement.  The beach was also pretty crowded but not to the point where it makes you feel uncomfortable.

I sat down on the beach and got some more tapas and a beer from Platja Ca La Nuri.  I was really just sitting along the beach when a waiter walked up with a menu.  I only had one item actually.  I decided to go for the Pommes de terre épicées.  They were potatoes with a spicy aioli.  They were perfectly crisp on the outside yet tender.  The aioli was spicy enough but not too hot to be overpowering.

Plaça de la Sagrada Família

Later on I went for a drink at Zian.  I decided to go with the Sangria.  Sangria is not something I usually ordered, but after tasting this I was hooked.   There was a bit of language barrier as I didn’t really understand what I was ordering but for €6 I got an entire pitcher of Sangria.  I didn’t feel bad leaving some it behind as I felt pretty tipsy after a few glasses.

After going to sleep pretty early in the evening I woke up to do some more sightseeing.  Here’s the synopsis.  I went to see the Plaça de la Sagrada Família.  It was a church.  Looked nice from the outside, the line to get in was long so I passed on it.  Went to Casa Museu Gaudí, It was a small museum.  Felt like a bit of a rip-off.  I was done with it in about 10 minutes and €10 poorer for the effort.  Park Güell was nice, but it was so crowded with people trying to take pictures that I was getting more annoyed than anything.  All these things essentially made me wish I was still at the beach.

Park Güell

I stopped for lunch at Narin.  It was a pretty awesome place that serves Middle Eastern food.  I ended up having a falafel pita and a beer for only €5.  The falafel was fresh fried for me and was crisp and it definitely wasn’t one of those that are kept alive via a heat lamp that you can get at some places.  Here you had a perfect little bite that was fulfilling and the fresh herbaceous qualities shine through.

I got sucked into Tallers 76 next door to soak up some free Wi-Fi.  The service was pretty friendly there despite the obvious language barrier, but I do know the words “pan con tomate” and “sangria” which was all I needed to make it through.

Tapas and Cava on the Beach

Soon after I was walking down Avenida Diagonal passing by various places where I could do some serious shopping if I so desired.  The pricing was borderline absurd, so I did more looking than anything.  Insane to think but I saw a pair of Levi’s at €120.  It has to be a result of all of the import taxes.  At any rate my bags were near full and I didn’t want to spend too much more money.

My next sightseeing spot was Casa Mila.  All of the sightseeing in Barcelona seems to revolve around the beach or Antoni Gaudi.  Here there was another line to get in that was very long and for €16 to get in I felt like my pictures from the outside were good enough.  I had to get back to the beach.   After seeing so much by Gaudi, I couldn’t justify the expense, not only in price but more importantly in time.

The best picture of the trip

I got back to the beach again and sat down and had the spicy potatoes again.  I would enjoy a glass of Cava with it as well.  It was more of a triumph, more of a celebration than a meal.  The sparkling wine garnished with a strawberry and the perfect view made for an amazing day.  I also tried the anchovies, which I wasn’t particularly a fan of.  You could definitely taste the freshness of the fish, but it was more the choice of the very sharp vinegar seasoning that made it unbearable for me.

After going back to the hotel to freshen up, I went out for dinner at La Rita.  It was upscale food for a price that wasn’t too expensive.  I felt a bit underdressed in my T-shirt and jeans as it definitely was a white tablecloth restaurant.  I was conflicted about what to order, and though I really enjoyed my Iberian pork filet, I kind of wish I would have gone for the duck.  It was good but not great.  It was from the loin which is a tough piece to cook, and it came back just slightly dry and tough.  The sweet wine sauce with the tomatoes kept the dish bearable.

The star of the show was the dessert.  It was yet another fantastic one that played the borders of sweetness perfectly.  It was a mango soup with pink peppercorns that added a little bit of kick to it.  It was a dish that executed a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness.  The pink peppercorns danced on the edge of your tongue and made you want more.

In the morning I suffered from the age old flight problem.  My preferred time to fly is about 11 am, if I am away from home.  This way you don’t have to wake up early, and it gives you just enough time to get some breakfast and make it to the airport.  If it is much later when you travel you run into the problem of doing what I did in my last day in Barcelona, which was goofing off for a bit while not doing much of anything because I wanted to be on time for my flight back to London.  To make matters worse, I found out that my flight to London was into Gatwick and not into Heathrow.

I wanted to make my way back to the hotel relatively quickly and I didn’t want to spend much time traveling.  A taxi seemed like the best option.  In hindsight, I would have probably endured taking the Tube.  The taxi did save me an hour and a half over the fasted time that I researched through public transportation, but it did cost me a bit of money that was so staggering that I am a bit ashamed to admit it.

I stayed the night at the Heathrow Doubletree.  This happened to be the second hotel that does that annoying false sense of security thing by making you use a key to get on the elevator.  I only went to my room once so it didn’t bother me at all.  For dinner I ended up getting room service.   I finally got a chance to try curry in London at this point.  I had been looking forward to some good Indian food throughout my trip due to the English fascination with Indian food, I was expecting a really good version of Chicken Tikka Masala.  This one didn’t disappoint at all.  It was one of those moments where the only thing to complain of was the small portion size.  My foursquare check-in turned out to be extremely helpful as the top tip said to take the bus that picks you up on the side of the road rather than the hotel shuttle.   It does save you about £3 and comes a lot quicker than the hotel shuttle.  Once I figured out which direction to go I was on my way pretty quickly.

My morning flight was a bit too early for me to take advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel.  In another couple of hours on a cramped flight I was in Barcelona.  Finally after arriving in Barcelona, I got the chance to break out the shorts and sunglasses, a welcomed change from the moderately kind of cold hoodie weather that I had in the rest of Europe.  I don’t know much Spanish, but I knew enough to help me get around quite a bit which made navigating around the city a bit easier based on how much of the language I do understand.

I took a bus out to where I would take the train from.  I had downloaded all of my directions in advance to make things easier.  I bought a 2 day pass for the train, but in hindsight a 10 trip pass would have been cheaper and gotten me through my entire visit.  My hotel for my trip in Barcelona would be the Hilton Barcelona.  The directions to get there were pretty simple.  A bus ride, then a train ride and then it was a short walk to the hotel.

It proved to be slightly more complicated than I imagined as I walked back and forth past the hotel several times.   It only had a couple of blue Hilton flags to identify it that were recessed a bit from the actual street.  I felt a little silly when I finally found it.  I went to the front desk to check in and I was behind probably the most annoying person in the world go get behind for checking in.  I waited in line for about 20 minutes in order to check in.  When I finally checked in I was offered the choice of a room on the third floor or waiting for a room on a higher floor.  I just wanted to check in so I opted for the lower floor.

This hotel has that numbering system where even numbers are on one side in one hallway and odd numbered rooms are on the other side.  I didn’t notice this when I first got off of the elevator and it lead to few more seconds of aimless wandering.  Once I made it into the room I turned on the TV to watch a little bit while I freshened up and as I was changing channels I came across that iconic scene from Back to the Future where Marty is playing the guitar at the dance.   Instantly I was like this is freaking awesome.  Then came in the weirdness of audio dubbed over in Spanish that made an otherwise perfect moment a little bit more memorable.

I was starving so I decided to get something to eat right next door at Piscolabis.  It is a tapas restaurant right next door to the hotel so I didn’t have to wander far.  The menu is quite large but most of what I wanted to try was absent from the menu.  I couldn’t complain too much because it was pretty early on a Sunday.  He also suggested pretty good replacements.  I mean you can’t really complain that much when you are selecting from over 60 dishes.

I had the pan con tomate.  It was simple, but you really get the freshness of the tomatoes.  It’s only charred bread that it is rubbed with tomatoes.  I know you might be thinking “what’s so great about that?”  It’s because the tomatoes have such a vibrant flavor of tomatoes.  It’s almost like eating a tomato for the first time.   The bread is perfect too.  It is very light and chewy and has this really crisp crust.

Next up I got a chance to try the ham croquettes.  They were made with the gold standard of ham.  Iberico ham comes from black Iberian pigs, which are fed a diet which is mostly acorns.  This renders a fat that has much higher HDL and lower LDL.  It also gives the ham a very rich flavor.  Being from Miami, and ham croquettes being a staple of Cuban cuisine, I’ve had much more than my fair share of ham croquettes over the years.   These were however the best that I’ve ever had.  The quality of the ham goes a long way and the fatty nature of it gives you a croquette that is most and crisp on the outside.

The richness of the food I had didn’t stop there as I ended up getting the foie gras cannelloni as well.  It was an absolute triumph as the pasta was cooked absolutely perfectly.   It also had this great rich sauce that was slightly earthy.  I also had the vegetable tempura with romesco sauce.  My favorite this array of fired vegetables was the asparagus.  The light batter that only a tempura can provide was perfect for it.  The romseco brought in the brightness of the sweet ripe tomatoes that are throughout Europe.  European tomatoes are better than any I’ve ever had in the US.

I then made my way to the beach it was an absolutely beautiful day outside as well.  Up until this point I thought that South Beach was the most beautiful beach in the world.  That isn’t even close to true Platja de la Barceloneta is phenomenal.  This is coming from a person that usually doesn’t like beaches as well.   The weather was absolutely perfect.  The sand wasn’t hot at all.  It was just warm enough to entice you to get into the water but not too warm as to make it a requirement.  The beach was also pretty crowded but not to the point where it makes you feel uncomfortable.

I sat down on the beach and got some more tapas and a beer from Platja Ca La Nuri.  I was really just sitting along the beach when a waiter walked up with a menu.  I only had one item actually.  I decided to go for the Pommes de terre épicées.  They were potatoes with a spicy aioli.  They were perfectly crisp on the outside yet tender.  The aioli was spicy enough but not too hot to be overpowering.

Later on I went for a drink at Zian.  I decided to go with the Sangria.  Sangria is not something I usually ordered, but after tasting this I was hooked.   There was a bit of language barrier as I didn’t really understand what I was ordering but for €6 I got an entire pitcher of Sangria.  I didn’t feel bad leaving some it behind as I felt pretty tipsy after a few glasses.

After going to sleep pretty early in the evening I woke up to do some more sightseeing.  Here’s the synopsis.  I went to see the Plaça de la Sagrada Família.  It was a church.  Looked nice from the outside, the line to get in was long so I passed on it.  Went to Casa Museu Gaudí, It was a small museum.  Felt like a bit of a rip-off.  I was done with it in about 10 minutes and €10 poorer for the effort.  Park Güell was nice, but it was so crowded with people trying to take pictures that I was getting more annoyed than anything.  All these things essentially made me wish I was still at the beach.

I stopped for lunch at Narin.  It was a pretty awesome place that serves Middle Eastern food.  I ended up having a falafel pita and a beer for only €5.  The falafel was fresh fried for me and was crisp and it definitely wasn’t one of those that are kept alive via a heat lamp that you can get at some places.  Here you had a perfect little bite that was fulfilling and the fresh herbaceous qualities shine through.

I got sucked into Tallers 76 next door to soak up some free Wi-Fi.  The service was pretty friendly there despite the obvious language barrier, but I do know the words “pan con tomate” and “sangria” which was all I needed to make it through.

Soon after I was walking down Avenida Diagonal passing by various places where I could do some serious shopping if I so desired.  The pricing was borderline absurd, so I did more looking than anything.  Insane to think but I saw a pair of Levi’s at €120.  It has to be a result of all of the import taxes.  At any rate my bags were near full and I didn’t want to spend too much more money.

My next sightseeing spot was Casa Mila.  All of the sightseeing in Barcelona seems to revolve around the beach or Antoni Gaudi.  Here there was another line to get in that was very long and for €16 to get in I felt like my pictures from the outside were good enough.  I had to get back to the beach.   After seeing so much by Gaudi, I couldn’t justify the expense, not only in price but more importantly in time.

I got back to the beach again and sat down and had the spicy potatoes again.  I would enjoy a glass of Cava with it as well.  It was more of a triumph, more of a celebration than a meal.  The sparkling wine garnished with a strawberry and the perfect view made for an amazing day.  I also tried the anchovies, which I wasn’t particularly a fan of.  You could definitely taste the freshness of the fish, but it was more the choice of the very sharp vinegar seasoning that made it unbearable for me.

After going back to the hotel to freshen up, I went out for dinner at La Rita.  It was upscale food for a price that wasn’t too expensive.  I felt a bit underdressed in my T-shirt and jeans as it definitely was a white tablecloth restaurant.  I was conflicted about what to order, and though I really enjoyed my Iberian pork filet, I kind of wish I would have gone for the duck.  It was good but not great.  It was from the loin which is a tough piece to cook, and it came back just slightly dry and tough.  The sweet wine sauce with the tomatoes kept the dish bearable.

The star of the show was the dessert.  It was yet another fantastic one that played the borders of sweetness perfectly.  It was a mango soup with pink peppercorns that added a little bit of kick to it.  It was a dish that executed a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness.  The pink peppercorns danced on the edge of your tongue and made you want more.

In the morning I suffered from the age old flight problem.  My preferred time to fly is about 11 am, if I am away from home.  This way you don’t have to wake up early, and it gives you just enough time to get some breakfast and make it to the airport.  If it is much later when you travel you run into the problem of doing what I did in my last day in Barcelona, which was goofing off for a bit while not doing much of anything because I wanted to be on time for my flight back to London.  To make matters worse, I found out that my flight to London was into Gatwick and not into Heathrow.

I wanted to make my way back to the hotel relatively quickly and I didn’t want to spend much time traveling.  A taxi seemed like the best option.  In hindsight, I would have probably endured taking the Tube.  The taxi did save me an hour and a half over the fasted time that I researched through public transportation, but it did cost me a bit of money that was so staggering that I am a bit ashamed to admit it.

I stayed the night at the Heathrow Doubletree.  This happened to be the second hotel that does that annoying false sense of security thing by making you use a key to get on the elevator.  I only went to my room once so it didn’t bother me at all.  For dinner I ended up getting room service.   I finally got a chance to try curry in London at this point.  I had been looking forward to some good Indian food throughout my trip due to the English fascination with Indian food, I was expecting a really good version of Chicken Tikka Masala.  This one didn’t disappoint at all.  It was one of those moments where the only thing to complain of was the small portion size.  My foursquare check-in turned out to be extremely helpful as the top tip said to take the bus that picks you up on the side of the road rather than the hotel shuttle.   It does save you about £3 and comes a lot quicker than the hotel shuttle.  Once I figured out which direction to go I was on my way pretty quickly.