Lunch with My Dear Sevillano Brother, Friend for 50 Years, Manolo Esquivias Fedriani, at Sep7imo Wine Bar, calle Pastor y Landero, 21, Barrio del Arenal, Sevilla.

* * * * * 

 

With my dear Sevillano brother, Manolo Esquivias, having lunch at Sep7imo Wine Bar, calle Pastor y Landero, 21, Barrio del Arenal, Sevilla.  

Drinking Finca Millara Lagariza Ribeira Sacra Mencía 2017 12.5%.

Mejillones (mussels) at Sep7imo, Sevilla.

Alcachofa plancha con gambones, plancha grilled artichokes con gambones (large prawns) at Sep7imo, Sevilla.

Gambones crujientes con setas y verduras, pieces of large crunchy shrimp, mushrooms and vegetables, at Sep7imo, Sevilla.

 

 
This dish at Sep7timo in Sevilla is brilliant, morcilla de arroz con salsa de pimientos de piquillo, blood sausage in a piquillo pepper sauce.

 

Another great dish at Sep7imo, Sevilla, berenjena asada al estilo libanés (Lebanese style aubergine) with chopped garlic and chives.

  

This dish at Sep7timo in Sevilla was superb, falda de cerdo asado con su jugo, pork belly roasted in it's own juices with terrific roasted potatoes, really extraordinary! #Sep7imo

  

Dessert at Sep7timo in Sevilla, torrijas made with brioche and avellanas (hazelnuts), the wonderful Spanish version of French toast.

 

 

My oldest friend in Spain, Manolo Esquivias, at the entrance to El Cairo bar restaurante at the edge of el Barrio del Arenal, for post-lunch café.

  * * * * *

 Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 ______________________________________________________________

 

About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at  gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com

Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019 Day Two, Tuesday, Jan. 29 Star Chefs Albert Adrià, Dabiz Muñoz and Andoni Aduriz and VIDEO of The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Robot Chef Pepa (known elsewhere as Pepper); Elena Arzak, Xabi Gutiérrez

* * * * *
(Note:  All text, photographs and videos, except when otherwise indicated, are by Gerry Dawes©2019.)

Pepa The Robot Chef II from Gerry Dawes on Vimeo.
  
Albert Adrià, "Will an intelligent robot get along well with a Thermomix?"

Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019 star chefs Albert Adrià (Tickets), Dabiz Muñoz (DiverXo) and Andoni Aduriz (Mugaritz) on stage with the robot "chef" Pepa, also known as Pepper, an AI (Artificial Intelligence) social humanoid robot created by Softbank Robotics.  

Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019 star chefs Albert Adrià, Dabiz Muñoz and Andoni Aduriz on stage. 

#AlbertAdria  #Diverxo  #AndoniAduriz  #Mugaritz

Elena Arzak

More of today's star chefs were Arzak's three-star chef Elena Arzak and Arzak Research Chef Xabi Gutiérrez. 

#MadridFusion #RealeSeguros #ElenaArzak #XabiGutierrez

Backstage with Pepa (otherwise known as "Pepper"), the Artificial Intelligence  Robot Chef, made her appearance on stage with Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019 Directors José Carlos Capel and Lourdes Plana on January 29, 2019, when Pepa was presented to star chefs Albert Adrià, Dabiz Muñoz and Andoni Aduriz. #RealeSegurosMadridFusion19

_______________________________________________________________________________________

 

About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

 Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on WPWL 103.7 FM Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York.

 Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 
 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at  gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com

Lunch with Lucio at Casa Lucio, Cava Baja, Madrid. Ensalada, Lechazo Asado (Roast Suckling Lamb) and Plenty of Rioja Reserva Tinto.

* * * * *
 (Note:  All text & photographs, except when otherwise indicated, are by Gerry Dawes©2019.)
 

Gerry Dawes and legendary Casa Lucio owner Lucio Blásquez at lunch at Casa Lucio, Cava Baja, Madrid.

Today, I left Madrid Fusión early to have a late lunch (at 4:30 p.m.) at Casa Lucio, and because of the taxi strike in Madrid, I had to take three Metro lines an about 45 minutes to get the La Latina stop, which is around the block from Lucio, but it was worth it. I had been here Sunday night with my friend Harold Heckle and learned that my old friend,  the 86-year old legendary owner Lucio Blásquez, has because of his health and his age has now retired from dinner service and only comes to the restaurant during lunchtime, so I went specifically to see him.  

 Lucio's son Javier, General Manager of Casa Lucio, serving us lechazo asado, at lunch at Casa Lucio, Cava Baja, Madrid.

Lucio, his daughter Mari, son and general manager Javier and three of Lucio´s Chinchón card game* playing buddies made room for me at the family table. We had a superb lunch with lechazo asado (roast suckling lamb), great potatoes on the side, a good lettuce and onion salad, dressed with just the right amount of vinegar, Spanish Extra Virgen Olive Oil and sal gorda (sea salt), plus at my request they brought out a plate of excellent cherry tomatoes to put in the salad.  

 

Lechazo asado at Casa Lucio, Cava Baja, Madrid.

And there was plenty of Montecillo Rioja Reserva red wine from magnum. After lunch, Lucio and his friends began playing Chinchón, a card game that Lucio has played nearly every day (and many nights) of his adult life after lunch and/or dinner. 

  After lunch, Lucio and his friends began playing Chinchón, a card game that Lucio has played nearly every day (and many nights) of his adult life after lunch and/or dinner.

Casa Lucio is one of my favorite restaurants in Madrid. It is one of Madrid's best known restaurants and reservations are hard to come by, but Lucio Blásquez, Mari (his daughter) and Javier (one of his sons) treat me like a long-lost family member when I show up and somehow manage to find me a table. 

As usual, going to Casa Lucio was like coming home and after a year away from Madrid, seeing Lucio was long overdue.  (Kay and I and my great friend Harold Heckle and his girlfriend Ana Belén spent New Year´s Eve 2017 and rang in 2018 at another of Lucio´s restaurants, Viejo Madrid) across the street from Casa Lucio.)

 With Lucio, Mari and Javier Blásquez with their family and friends at Viejo Madrid celebrating la Noche Vieja (New Year´s Eve) 2018-2018.

 Harold Heckle, Kay Balun, Lucio Blásquezat Viejo Madrid celebrating la Noche Vieja (New Year´s Eve) 2018-2018.

(*Chinchón is a matching card game played in Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Cape Verde and other places. It is a close variant of Gin rummy, with which it shares the same objective: making sets, groups or runs, of matching cards. The name is spelled Txintxon in Basque and in Cape Verdean Creole. -- Wikipedia)

#CasaLucio# LucioBlázquez #JavierBlázquez  January 29, 2019

* * * * *

  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 _____________________________________________________________________________

 

About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019, Photo Album - Ferran Adrià, Adolfo Muñoz and Daniel Sorlut Oysters, María José San Román, Esmeralda Capel, Cortador de Jamones Jesús González León

* * * * *
(Note:  All text & photographs, except when otherwise indicated, are by Gerry Dawes©2019.)

After an absence of five years, Ferran Adrià returned to the stage at Madrid Fusión 2019, speaking to a packed house on opening day of Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019 , Jan. 28.

Monday, Jan. 28 Madrid Fusión  

Up at 8:30 before alarm went off, stayed up and made notes, will be taking the Metro to Madrid Fusión.

11:10 a.m. Ferran Adrià on stage at Madrid Fusión 2019, speaking to a packed house on opening day, Jan. 28.

Ferran Adrià returned to the stage at Madrid Fusión 2019, speaking to a packed house on opening day of Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019 , Jan. 28.

With my great friends, Chef Adolfo Muñoz and his son Chef Adolfo Muñoz García (the tall guy on the left) and friends, drinking Robert Pierrel Champagne at the Daniel Sorlut Oyster stand at Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019, Jan. 28, 2019.

 

Daniel Sorlut oysters (sea-farmed in Normandy, very clean, tasting of pure sea, delicious) and Robert Pierrel Champagne from Epernay at the Daniel Sorlut Oyster stand at Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019, Jan. 28, 2019. #DanielSorlut

Though Daniel Sorlut Ostras (oysters) are French, they have an outlet store in el Mercado de San Miguel, the great private mercado / upscale food court just off the Plaza Mayor in Madrid and several stands in markets in Palma de Mallorca. 

1)  La Spéciale Daniel Sorlut (The larger oysters.)

The jewel in the Sorlut crown. This oyster requires the utmost care and attention and is the fruit of a rigorous selection process throughout its development during which it must meet the strictest refining criteria determined by our firm. Our extensive know-how, dating from 1930, determines the optimal moment to relocate the oyster from the saltwater park of Marennes, where its refining begins, to the cooler waters and sandy beaches of Normandy, rich in phytoplankton, where it remains during its last year. World renowned for its excellence, the Spéciale Daniel Sorlut oyster offers exceptional, firm and creamy meat that represents between 13 % and 16 % of its total weight. This is the oyster preferred by the most prestigious chefs around the world. It is easy to recognise by its unique and delicate texture, as well as its meat, which is more abundant than in any other oyster. In the mouth, the taste expands around the whole palate. At first iodized and flavoursome, it later reveals a hint of hazelnut and finishes with an almost sweet tone. No words can exactly define the taste sensations that can only be experienced by savouring it.

2) La Fine de Claire 

It is a classic oyster which follows a rigorous production process. Its development can last up to 4 years. To complete its maturation, it is placed in small ponds, called claires, for 4 weeks in the lower Marennes Oléron area (3 kg per m2 in winter and, 1 kg per m2 for 2 weeks in summer), fed in preserved water in order to harden its shell and refine its meat. It is an oyster whose meat represents between 7 % and 10.5 % of its total weight. On the palate, it tastes "rich in water" and reveals a very iodized flavor and an intense taste of the ocean.

 

Available in Madrid at el Mercado de San Miguel:

Daniel Sorlut Ostras
Puesto ostras n°67 
Plaza de San Miguel, S/NT 
Tel: 00 34 91 559 10 41
www.ostrasorlut.com

 

 Kike Marti Maestro Arrocero from Mallorca.

 

Chef María José San Román (Monastrell, Taberna de Gourmet, Alicante), Madrid Fusión Director and friend for 20 years Esmeralda Capel and Madrid Fusión coordinator Ximena Hernández, three of my favorite people, at Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019, January 28, 2019.

Maestro Cortador de Jamones (professional Ibérico ham cutter) Jesús González León cutting a Dehesa de Extremadura jamón Ibérico at Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019, January 28, 2019. #JesúsGonzálezLeón #DehesadeExtremadura

Fresh Medjoul Dates at the Comunidad de Valencia stand at Reale Seguros Madrid Fusión 2019, January 28, 2019.

_______________________________________________________________________________________  

 

About Gerry Dawes

"My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on WPWL 103.7 FM Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York.  Gerry Dawes & Friends can be heard live on Mondays from 7-8 p.m. and Saturdays from 2-3 p.m. at www.pawlingpublicradio.org

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 
 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at  gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com