Jamón Ibérico, gazpacho and red sangría at Casa Botín at my preferred table, the private table behind the bar at the entrance to this great restaurante in Madrid.

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Jamón Ibérico, gazpacho and red sangría at Casa Botín at my preferred table, the private table behind the bar at the entrance to this great restaurante.

 

One of my favorite things to do in Madrid, have a light lunch of jamón Ibérico, gazpacho and red sangría (I seldom have sangría, but at Botín, its is well made and not very sweet) and maybe some morcilla with pimientos rojos asados or some alcachofas fritas (fried artichokes) at Casa Botín at my preferred table, the private table behind the bar at the entrance to this great restaurante.

 Casa Botín, the oldest continually operating restaurant in the world, is famous for its cochinillo asado, roast suckling pig. All photos by Gerry Dawes©2019.

 

Cochinillo asado, roast suckling pig. All photos by Gerry Dawes©2019.

 Cochinillo asado, roast suckling pig, from the ancient stone oven at Casa Botín (Sobrino de Botín), the oldest continually operating restaurant (founded in 1725) in the world All photos by Gerry Dawes©2019.

Cochinillo asado, roast suckling pig, con patatas asadas from the ancient stone oven 

at Casa Botín, the oldest continually operating restaurant in the world.  All photos by Gerry Dawes©2019.

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  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.

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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