Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Warrior in Spain Volume 1 Enhanced Photography Edition, Foreword by José Andrés. Death of a Key Character in Chapter Two

* * * * * 

 I am very, very sad to report that Tom Sims, my old Navy buddy and a key figure in Sevilla: Arrival in Spain, Soldiers on a Train, the second chapter of my book Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Warrior in Spain Volume 1 Enhanced Photography Edition, Foreword by José Andrés, passed away this morning in a nursing home in Colorado.

His sister Charlotte Olein, a former Miss Minnesota, with whom I have been in contact about Tom for the past year, let me know this morning.

On the Acknowledgements pages I wrote this:

"Without the eccentricity of Tom Sims, my Navy buddy, I would never have had, albeit accidentally, the unique privilege of entering Sevilla for the very first time via el Arco de la Macarena, as was traditional for the kings of Spain on their first visits."

This is from Chapter Two: Sevilla: Arrival in Spain, Soldiers on a Train (Copyright by Gerry Dawes 2021.)

"During my first months in the Navy at Rota, I met Tom Sims, a tall, shy, sardonic, totally ec- centric French linguist, whose father was a prominent geologist and whose sister Charlotte was crowned Miss Minnesota in 1967. One of the quirkiest of many quirky people I have known in my life, Sims became my friend and, eventually, my housemate in an off-base apartment.

Sims arrived in Rota several months before I did and had been to Sevilla once. How Sims managed to get there and back, I still wonder, since his skills as a navigator, or anything else involving the use of logic applied to everyday problems, seemed non-existent. Sims, whose whole life revolved around reading good literature while listening to classical music, is a man to whom I would never loan even a screwdriver without a serious interrogation, nor would I turn him loose in any kitchen unless I wanted it to become a toxic waste site. His idea of cooking in those days consisted of dumping a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese—bought from the Rota Navy Exchange—into a pan of water, turning the fire on under it and reading until he smelled it burning. Sims also seemed to revel in a peculiar habit that made him, say, order steak in some of the best seafood restaurants in Spain such as those in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and then choose fish in landlocked Ecija, a Córdoba province town which gets so hot it is known as la sartén de España, the frying pan of Spain.

In early spring of 1968, Sims and I took the train from El Puerto de Santa María to Sevilla. When we arrived at what even a novice like me knew had to be the main train station in Sevilla, then the Estación de San Bernardo, Sims claimed that there was another station where we were supposed to get off. After a 15-minute stop, the train began to move. I kept questioning Sims about this “other” station, since I was convinced that we were on our way to Madrid. As the train was rambling out of the suburbs of Sevilla, it slowed down for a track-switching maneuver and I insisted that we jump off before it picked up speed again.

We got off the train while it was moving and ended up in San Jerónimo, then a suburban village near Sevilla’s San Fernando cemetery, where later I would learn that Joselito and Belmonte, the two great hero matadors of Sevilla, were interred. It was market day in San Jerónimo, so we strolled along the street listening to the foreign sounds of peddlers hawking the cheap produce of a working-class barrio. When we asked using sign language how we could get to Sevilla, a woman at a vegetable stand pointed to a bus stop across the street. The bus was just arriving and we rode four kilometers to Sevilla, where we got off at a stop across the street from one of the old Moorish gates to the city.

The gate was the Arco de la Macarena, the ancient archway through which one of the most iconic Virgin figures of Andalucía, La Virgen de la Macarena, a jewel-bedecked, richly robed Madonna statue of legendary beauty, is carried out each Holy Thursday to the hosannas of thousands of Sevillanos. The Macarena gate is flanked by the ruins of Sevilla’s old Roman walls and is one of the city’s most revered spots, but it was not a place directly linked to any main roads, so it was next to impossible for a foreigner to enter the city this way. I have long thought, given this auspicious entrance into Sevilla, that my fate was somehow inextricably intertwined with this marvelous Andalucian city from that first moment. My future wife and I eventually lived in Sevilla for nearly four years; the best man at our wedding was a Sevillano, and it was Sevilla that, 25 years later— through a pivotal rekindled friendship and the discovery of a prodigiously talented young bullfighter/media star, Francisco Rivera Ordoñez—would draw me ever more deeply back into Spain.

On that wondrous spring day in 1968, Sims and I wandered through the back streets for hours, emerging from Sevilla’s narrow urban canyons on calle Francos to find the La Giralda tower soaring above us. Once the minaret of the main mosque when the Moors ruled Sevilla seven centuries earlier, La Giralda was later capped with a Renaissance structure and became the bell tower of the Cathedral and Sevilla’s symbol, its Eiffel Tower. The statue of Faith, called El Giraldillo, crowning the top of the structure, has a metal protrusion that allows it to swivel in the wind so that it acts as a weathervane. The shield-like protrusion resembles a mu- leta, the small red cloth that a bullfighter uses during la faena, the main act of a corrida— there is even a pass called the giraldilla.

Sims and I had finally arrived at the center of the city, but our meanderings were worth it. From our impromptu entrance through the Macarena arch that is sacred to Sevillanos and our serendipitous exploration of the labyrinthine streets of the working-class quarters of Sevilla with their strange sights, smells, and sounds, I got a taste of the city’s true alma, its soul, one that I have never lost. In subsequent months, now enchanted with this beautiful and exotic city, I returned again and again."

I had hoped to visit Tom Sims in Colorado, where another old Pamplona buddy, Brooks Read, lived and where two of my daughters lived, Elena in Colorado Springs and Erica in Dolores. Brooks lived in Boulder, Tom Sims in outside of Denver, Brooks died suddenly a couple of weeks ago, the day after calling me and praising Sunset in a Glass profusely. Charlotte Sims Olein told me that Tom had been able to see a copy of the book before he passed. I sincerely hope it brought both of them fond memories of their younger days and they are both resting in peace and reveling in those memories.

QDEP Tom Sims and Mark (Brooks) Read. At least I was able to leave you with some great memories.

 * * * * *

 

Comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2021.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

* * * * *

  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.

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
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

Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain Volume I Enhanced Photography Edition. Foreword by José Andrés

 

* * * * * 

 

Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain Volume I Enhanced Photography Edition by Gerry_Dawes (Goodreads link)

Chef Norman Van Aken, photograph copyright 2022 by Gerry Dawes.

From Florida star chef Norman Van Aken, chef-owner of Norman's Orlando and author of No Experience Necessary: 

"If you love Spanish food and wine, (and who couldn’t!) do yourself a favor and learn from a gentleman named Gerry Dawes, the deep dive that can be had when you read his new book, “Sunset in a Glass.”   

I have had the great fortune to have gone on a tour in Spain curated and hosted in part by Gerry. He took us to places we never would have found on our own. And with his often decades long personal friendships with key member of the Spanish food and wine community doors were opened that gave us the true insider’s experience.  

While you might not be doing international travel just yet ‘Sunset in a Glass’ with take you there from the comfort of your favorite reading chair. And drinking a fine Rioja is perfectly appreciated as you do!" 

Available on Amazon.

Comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2022.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

* * * * *

  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.

 _______________________________________________________

 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
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

Sephardic Spain: The Incredible Remnants of Jewish Culture in the Old Quarters of Spain: Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba, Sevilla, Ribadavia (Galicia), Tudela (Navarra), Girona (Catalunya), Hervás (Cáceres)

* * * * * 

 

 Santa Maria La Blanca, 12th-Century Ibn Shushan Synagogue in Toledo.
Now a Christian church, this is the loveliest synagogue that I have seen in Spain.  It is a superb, unique example of Moorish Mudejar architecture under Jewish patronage. Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2019.

 

Click on title to see entire post.

"Always grazing
here in this garden--
I'm dark-eyed just
like you, and lonely.
We both live far
from friends, forsaken --
patiently bearing
our fate's decree."

-- Qasmuna bint Ismail al Yahudi

 

Museo Sefardí in the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the old Jewish Quarter of Sevilla. (Now, sadly closed.) Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain & The Pre-Post COVID 3500 Kms. Road Warrior Adventure in June 2021.

 

Tapas Hopping with Colman Andrews in Madrid, Jan. 24, 2017

* * * * * 

Because the foreign press contingent was ensconced in an isolated hotel along Route M-40 in northwestern Madrid, some 15 kilometers from downtown Madrid, this year's tapas excursions at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017 were somewhat curtailed compared to other years, but Colman Andrews, Managing Editor of The Daily Meal, and I managed one breakaway and I was able to  get to Marisquería Rafa on the Sunday night before Madrid Fusión 2017 began.

(The Bar at Marisquería Rafa: A Five Dalí POM (Persistence of Memory) Melting Watch Award Experience)

Colman and I managed to hit just two tapas bars, included the highly rated La Catapa and La Tasquería de Javi Estévez, which specializes in casquería (offal) and whose kitchen was closing just as we arrived at 11:00, so we had to settle for just one dish there, callos (tripe).

 

 On a tapas prowl with Colman Andrews, Editorial Director of The Daily Meal and Spanish cuisine expert at La Tasquería de Javi Estévez, Duque de Sesto, 48. Madrid. Tel. 91 451 10 00, Jan 24, 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017
 

 Chef-owner Javi Estévez, La Tasquería de Javi Estévez, Duque de Sesto, 48. Madrid. Tel. 91 451 10 00, Jan 24, 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017

 

 Specialist in Casquería (Offal) dishes:   Callos with picante sauce (tripe in a picante sauce), served with a Piñeiro Oloroso de Jerez at La Tasquería de Javi Estévez, Duque de Sesto # 48, Madrid. Photo by Gerry Dawes.

 Callos (tripe), some of the best tripe (which I do not particularly like) that I have ever had, at La Tasquería de Javi Estévez, Duque de Sesto, 48. Madrid. Tel. 91 451 10 00, on a tapas prowl during Madrid Fusión 2017 with Colman Andrews, Editorial Director of The Daily Meal and Spanish cuisine expert, Jan 24, 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017.

 
 The menu at La Tasquería de Javi Estévez (in English)

Some of the dishes Colman and I missed out on:

 Beef Cheek, SweetBreads, Liver, Tripe, Shank and Snout; Lamb Sweetbreads, Brains, Neck, Lung & Liver; Pork Baby Pig Tail, Cheek, PigTrotters and Ear; plus Tuna Heart, Cod Tripe, Tongue, Kidneys and Cockscomb. 

Cabeza de cochinillo confitada (roast suckling pig head) with salad at La Tasquería de Javi Estévez, Duque de Sesto, 48. Madrid. Tel. 91 451 10 00.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2016.

Or aceitunas de Málaga (olives), lengua de cerdo Ibérico (Ibérico pig tongue), bread, aceite de oliva variedad Sikitita (peppery full flavored Isbylla extra virgen oiive oil made from the Sikitita olive variety, from Sevilla)  and a glass of Leirana Albariño 2013 from Forjas de Salnés at La Tasquería de Javi Estévez, Duque de Sesto # 48, Madrid. Photo by Gerry Dawes.

Or riñones de conejo Meuniere (rabbit kidneys Meuniere with butter, lemon and hazelnuts) at La Tasquería de Javi Estévez, Duque de Sesto # 48, Madrid. Photo by Gerry Dawes.

La Tasquería de Javi Estévez, Duque de Sesto # 48, Madrid. Photo by Gerry Dawes.

* * * * *

 Bar La Catapa, Calle Menorca, 14, Madrid (Zona Retiro).  Phone: 686 14 38 23.

"Today we have tripe with garbanzos" on the blackboard and "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" - - Benjamin Franklin, inscribed on a post at Bar La Catapa, Calle Menorca, 14, Madrid (Zona Retiro).  Phone: 686 14 38 23.  La Catapa is rated as one of the top gastrobars in Madrid.   Luckily, we passed on the tripe at la Catapa, especially since that was the only dish offered to us at La Tasquería de Javi Estévez.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017

 Erizos del mar (sea urchins) on a tapas prowl with Colman Andrews, Editorial Director of The Daily Meal and Spanish cuisine expert at Bar La Catapa, Calle Menorca, 14, Madrid (Zona Retiro).  Phone: 686 14 38 23.  La Catapa is rated as one of the top gastrobars in Madrid, Jan 24, 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017
 

 Exceptional alcachofas (artichokes), which we suspect may have been "poached" in olive oil, on a tapas prowl with Colman Andrews, Editorial Director of The Daily Meal and Spanish cuisine expert at Bar La Catapa, Calle Menorca, 14, Madrid (Zona Retiro).  Phone: 686 14 38 23.  La Catapa is rated as one of the top gastrobars in Madrid, Jan. 24, 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017

 Miguel Ángel Jiménez, owner of Taberna la Catapa, Madrid, Feb. 1, 2018. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2018

_______________________________________________________________________  
About Gerry Dawes

 Gerry 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@gmail.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com

Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain Volume I Enhanced Photograph Edition, Foreword by José Andrés

* * * * * 

Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior Volume I (of IV), with the Foreword by José Andrés, is a collection of non-fiction stories about the adventures of recognized Spanish food, wine and travel authority Gerry Dawes, recipient of the prestigious Spanish National Gastronomy Prize. Sunset in a Glass is illustrated with more than 150 color and black-and-white photographs chronicling adventures from decades of living and traveling in Spain.

This book is perfect for armchair travelers deprived of their ability to travel because of the COVID pandemic and those undergoing Spain withdrawal. Sunset in a Glass is a great holiday gift for those who love travel, adventure, Spain and Spanish food and wine.

 

The stories in this Sunset in a Glass are from decades of crisscrossing Spain accumulating adventures with the likes of José Andrés, Anthony Bourdain, James Earl Jones, Kenneth Tynan, Keith Hernandez, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria, top chefs and restaurateurs, star winemakers and down home artisan wine producers, professional Ibérico ham carvers, bullfighters, flamenco artists, friends of Ernest Hemingway and a marvelous collection of women in Spain.

“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. He has connected with all manner of people working at every level and in every corner of Spain. You can step into a restaurant in the smallest town in Spain, and it turns out they know Gerry somehow.”—José Andrés, chef-restaurateur-humanitarian, Nobel Prize nominee.

“In his decades of wandering the back roads of Spain Gerry Dawes has built up a much stronger bank of experiences than I had to rely on when I started writing Iberia...His adventures far exceeded mine in both width and depth.”—James A. Michener, author of Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections.

Before the golden age of food travel media, and long before Spain became the world’s most exciting food destination, there was Gerry Dawes. A walking (and eating) encyclopedia of Spanish food and culture—from tapas to the culinary innovators, from artisan winemakers and cheesemakers to the sites only the locals know—Gerry has chronicled them all. Like few
others, he continues to inspire and inform a generation of food writers, travelers and chefs like me.”—Dan Barber, Chef-owner, Blue Hill New York and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, author of The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food.

“Thanks for your artistry. If I had not seen your photography, I would not have known you as well.” —James Earl Jones, during The Great White Hope filming in Barcelona.

“Gerry Dawes has lived, analysed, argued, savoured, prodded, tested, teased and loved his way through Spain’s extraordinary gastronomic heritage for decades. Food as friendship is at the core of this wild, passionate road trip through Spain. This is a masterclass in storytelling - delicious and addictive.”—Gijs van Hensbergen, Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon and Gaudí: A Biography.

“Prowling through the bodegas, tapas bars, and markets of Spain with Gerry Dawes is an educational experience, sure, but more than that it’s an inside look at one of the world’s great gastronomic cultures, and more than that, it’s just a whole lot of fun. Gerry knows almost anyone you’d want to know in this delicious world, and those he doesn’t know, once he meets
them, aren’t strangers for long. Sunset in a Glass will give you a tantalizing taste of the experience.”—Colman Andrews, author of Catalan Cuisine, co-founder of Saveur.

“Spain wouldn’t be as known to Americans without the stories Gerry tells and writes.”—Chef Ferran Adrià, elBulli. 

 

 Available on amazon.com,  amazon.uk, amazon.fr, amazon.es.

 

 

Comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2021.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

* * * * *

  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.

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
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

Adventures Drinking Manzanilla Sherry at the Source, Excerpt from Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain Volume I Enhanced Photograph Edition, Foreword by José Andrés

* * * * * 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2021.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

* * * * *

  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.

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
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

Looking Back: Club Chefs of Connecticut & New York Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes, Days 1 & 2, Jan. 13 & 14, A Gastronomic Adventure in Barcelona

* * * * * 

(Edited by Gerry Dawes with input from Chef Brian Limitone, Meadow Ridge Senior Living, Redding, CT)

 
Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes: Outside the trendy wine bar Monvinic in Barcelona about to tour the wine cellar, meet the owner, Sergi Ferrer Salat, and have lunch. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 28mm f2.8 rented from http://lensrental.com for this trip. 

During the week of January 12-19, the Club Chefs of Connecticut, along with several Club Chefs from New York, took a gastronomic journey through Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Madrid. This prestigious group of ten executive chefs from Connecticut experienced a crash course in the tastes of Spain under the guidance of Gerry Dawes our organizer, guide and Spanish food and wine expert.

Gerry Dawes is widely recognized as one of the very top American experts on the gastronomy, wines and culture of Spain.  Recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Spanish National Gastronomy Prize (2003) and Food Arts magazine’s Silver Spoon Award (2009), Gerry has long been educating American Chefs about the gastronomy, wines and culture of Spain.

Participating on this tour were Chefs Brian Limitone, Meadow Ridge Senior Living, Redding, CT;  Gerard Resnick, Century Country Club, Purchase, NY; Robert Rainone, Larchmont Yacht Club, Larchmont, NY; Carey Favreau, Glen Arbor Club, Bedford Hills NY; Wayne Kregling, Brownson Country Club, Huntington, CT; Wayne Klingman, Garden City Country Club, Garden City, NY; Victor Honrath, Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY;  Dan Neuroth, Bronxville Field Club, Bronxville, NY;  Austin Simard , Brownson Country Club, Huntington, CT; and James Rosenbauer, Country Club of Farmington, Farmington, CT.


Flying out of JFK and arriving in Barcelona early Monday morning we gathered at the Hotel Cram, carrer Aribau 54 the tony Eixample district and proceeded to a classic Catalan breakfast restaurant, Bar Gelida. This small bar-restaurant was bustling with patrons so we were ushered through the tiny kitchen to a table set up in the storeroom. Sitting among boxes and cases of product we enjoyed a multi-course morning feast featuring the grilled sepia (squid), Spanish tortilla (egg and potato omelette), and mongetes amb botifarra (white beans with Catalan sausage).    

Club Chefs of Connecticut Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes: Sitting at the kitchen storeroom 'family' table, just a couple of hours after an all-night flight from New York, at Bar Gelida, Barcelona.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4.

Along with strong Spanish espresso coffee to accompany our desayuno, Gerry introduced us to drinking Cava (sparkling wine) from a glass wine vessel called a porrón (a needle-spout glass carafe, from which wine is drunk bota-like, from a long thin stream that must be expertly guided into one’s mouth). 

 

Club Chefs of Connecticut Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes: Sitting at the kitchen storeroom 'family' table, just a couple of hours after an all-night flight from New York, at Bar Gelida, Barcelona, having an old-time Catalan breakfast: Victor Honrath, Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY, drinking Catalan Cava (methode champenoise sparkling wine) at Bar Gelida as Wayne Klingman decides to go the safe route and pour himself a glass of Cava.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4. 

After our Breakfast of Champions, Gerry led us on an orientation walk around Barcelona’s fashionable Eixample and showed us architect Antoni Gaudi’s famous landmark buildings on the Passeig de Gracia, Casa Mila and Casa Batlló, then before heading back to the Hotel Cram for a nap before lunch, we made an impromptu stop at Reserva Ibérica (the ham shop), which specializes in aged, salt-and-air cured Ibérico hams and charcutería, which we sampled.    

Club Chefs of Connecticut & New York Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes. Chefs James Rosenbauer (r), Country Club of Farmington, Farmington, CT and Victor Honrath, Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY observing a ham cutter at Reserva Ibérica (The Ham Shop), Carrer Aragó, 242 Barcelona (http://www.reservaiberica.com), Jan. 13, 2014. 
 Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

For Gerry, this encounter turned out to be the first stop for him on what would be a two-and-a-half week long ham run through Spain. 

After a shower, a brief nap and a change of clothes, we walked a few blocks from our hotel to fashionable Monvinic, one of Spain’s top wine bar restaurants, where we met the owner, Sergi Ferrer, and toured to wine cellar with wine director César Canovas, Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomy’s Best Sommelier 2011 and had a lunch of modern cuisine-inspired Catalan specialties.  

 

Cellar Master / Sommelier César Canovas, Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomy Best Sommelier 2011 of Monvinic Wine Center, Wine Bar & Restaurant in Barcelona.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 24mm f/2.8 (from http://lensrental.com).

 

The afternoon was free to rest before dinner at the classic Barcelona institution Restaurante Set Portes, where we dined on Catalan regional specialites including exquiexada (a ‘salad made with bacalao) and escalivada (grilled vegetables), plus we were introduced to the first of what would be many rice dishes on this trip through Mediterranean Spain: arròs caldoso (a soupy seafood rice dish), arròs negre (black paella with squid ink) and fideuà (pasta, instead of rice, cooked in a paella recipe).   

Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes: Fideuà (pasta, instead of rice, cooked in a paella recipe), dinner at the classic Set Portes Restaurant, Barcelona. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4.

We drank Catalan wines, cava, rosat and negre and, for dessert, we got our first exposure to crema catalana or Catalan crème brûlée.  After dinner, we migrated to Javier de la Muela’s famous cocktail bar, Dry Martini, located a few blocks from the HotelCram, for a couple of adult libations. 

 

Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes: Javier de la Muelas' Dry Martini Bar, Barcelona. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4. 

 
The second morning in Barcelona, we visited Jorge Mas’s Mas Gourmet specialty shop in the upscale shopping mall, L’Illa del Diagonal for a sensational second breakfast.  Mas’s shop manager and hamcutter Jordi Ausro gave us a seminar and a dazzling tasting of several kinds of jamón Ibérico and charcutería, pa amb tomaquet (Catalan tomato bread), morcilla (black pudding), smoked salmon, and foie gras tapas accompanied Cava Rimarts Rosat Ahumado sparkling wine, a slightly smoky method champenoise rosé made to accompany smoked salmon.

 

 

 Jordi Ausro, manager and hamcutter at Mas Gourmets, L'Illa Diagonal shop, Barcelona, explaining their gourmet products to the Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes. 

Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 24mm f/2.8 (from http://lensrentals.com).

Our next stop was  a visit to the bakery and  workshop of super star pastry artist and culinary events maestro Christian Escribà at Escribà, where Christian Escribà’s (he was in Portugal) Projects Director Xavier Marcos, showed us a video of some of the dazzling projects in the works at this incredible world-class pastry shop.

 

 Pastry, Desserts & Events Maestro Christian Escribà. 

Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2010. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com.

The chocolatero-pastelero-special events maestro Christian Escribà and wife-creative partner Patricia Schmidt with Gerry Dawes at San Sebastián Gastronomika. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com.

 

New York contingent posing with Christian Escribà's sensational pastry-and-chocolate creation of New York, New York at San Sebastián Gastronomika 2010. Daniel Boulud, Drew Nieporent, Wylie Dufresne, Colman Andrews, David Chang, Thomas Keller & Tony Bourdain. 

Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2010. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com.

 

At Escribà, where Christian Escribà’s (he was in Portugal) Projects Director Xavier Marcos, showed us a video of some of the dazzling projects in the works at this incredible world-class Barcelona pastry shop. 

Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

We followed the Escribà pastries visit with a tour of Mercat de la Boquería, one of the world’s greatest markets, where you can buy the freshest of seafood (we were introduced to the shellfish purveyor at her Palmira i Neus - Gemma stand, the lovely Gemma Bosch Roca, always stylishly dressed, like many women in La Boquería, wearing an elegantly embroidered bodice and looking gorgeous, all the while bagging mariscos (exquisite crustaceans and mollusks), cutting up fish, wrapping slices and filets, passing them to customers and taking payment. 

 

 The lovely Gemma Bosch Roca at her Palmira i Neus - Gemma seafood stand.  

Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

 

In la Boquería, you can also find the freshest produce, mushrooms, meats, chickens, hams and charcutería, spices, candies, nuts, etc.    Our tour guides were Gerry, the market stand owners’ association President Salvador Capdevila, La Boquería President Oscar Uribe and Jorge Mas, owner of Mas Gourmets, which has seven outposts in La Boquería.  

 

 L’Associació de Comerciants de la Boqueria (La Boquería market stand owners’ association) President Salvador Capdevila, at his Avinova stand, which specializes in game, poultry, foie gras, etc.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

 
We also met another of Gerry’s friends, Llorenç Petras, the now-retired Maestro of Mushrooms, who just happened to be at his Petras stand that day (the stand is now run by his sons) and he showed us a tray with a pile of large prime of trufas negras (black truffles) and a large basket of colmenillas (morels mushrooms). 

The legendary mushroom-and-truffle guru, Llorenç Petràs, now-retired, but who just happened to be at his Bolets Petràs Fruits del Bosc stand in Barcelona’s Mercat de La Boquería that day (the stand is now run by his sons Isaac and Xavier) and showed the chefs a pile of prime black truffles. Club Chefs of Connecticut & New York Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

 

 The legendary mushroom-and-truffle guru, Llorenç Petràs, now-retired, but who just happened to be at his Bolets Petràs Fruits del Bosc stand in Barcelona’s Mercat de La Boquería that day (the stand is now run by his sons) and showed the chefs a pile of prime black truffles. (l to r) Carey Favreau, Glen Arbor Club, Bedford Hills NY; Llorenç Petràs; James Rosenbauer, Country Club of Farmington, Farmington, CT; Austin Simard , Brownson Country Club, Huntington, CT; and Victor Honrath, Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY. Club Chefs of Connecticut & New York Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

 

A basket of colmenillas (morels; múrgola, rabassola o morilla in Catalan; colmenilla or morilla in Spanish) mushrooms at the Petràs stand in Barcelona’s Mercat de La Boquería. The legendary mushroom-and-truffle guru, Llorenç Petràs, now-retired, but who just happened to be at his Bolets Petràs Fruits del Bosc stand a that day (the stand is now run by his sons), and showed the Club Chefs of Connecticut & New York Taste of Spain Tour group a pile of prime black truffles. Jan. 14, 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

Before ending our tour of la Boquería, we stopped to have a couple of  tapas--thinly sliced fried alcachofas (artichokes) and some patatas bravas with picante bravas sauce and ailoli with some more rosat Cava--at Quim de la Boquería, one of the best market bars in Spain, where we were greeted by chef-owner Quim Marquez and his son Yuri. This year, Quim de la Boqueria is celebrating their 25th Anniversary.

 Quim Màrquez, Quim de la Boquería, La Boquería Market, Barcelona.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

 

 Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes:  Joan Mora González pouring rosat Cava (Catalan rosé sparkling wine), Quím de la Boquería, a Boquería market, Barcelona,  Jan. 14, 2014.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

 

After we had the tapas and Cava to fortify us, we strolled down Les Rambles, Barcelona’s world-famous pedestrian thoroughfare that leads to the port, stopping for photographs with the Karen, an attractive woman from Argentina who performs as Winged Victory, one of the few human statues left on this street that was once filled with dozens of these performance artists.We continued on to our lunch destination in the Port Vell, Suquet de l’Alimirall, where chef Quim Marquès (no relation to Quim from la Boqueria; his last name ends in ‘s,’, not ‘z,’ cooked a typical Catalan lunch for us in his own personalized style. 

Club Chefs of Connecticut & New York Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes.  Victor Honrath, Executive Chef of Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY, schmoozes with Caren, Winged Victory, one of the few human statues left on Les Rambles in Barcelona, Jan. 14, 2014.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

Quim, who went to culinary school with José Andrés, has developed his own unique twists on many Catalan classics. Chef Quim opened with plates of jamón Ibérico de bellota, followed by anxoas con poma (cured anchovies encircling an apple compote with olive oil and balsamic vinegar), then pa coca con sardinas ahumados, cebolla caramelizada, tomate cherry, jamón Ibérico & queso Brie (Catalan pizza-like crust with smoked sardines, caramelized onions, a cherry tomato, a slice of cured Ibérico ham and a piece of Brie cheese), buñuelos de espinacas y buñuelos de bacalao con ailoli con miel (spinach fritters and bacalao fritters with honey ailoli), sardinas a la brasa rellenas (stuffed, grilled sardines topped with a slice of Ibérico ham), pa amb tomaquet (Catalan tomato bread), sepia a la plancha con su tinta (grilled sepia with its ink) and alcachofa y huevo (fried artichokes served with a fried egg).  

 

 Club Chefs of Connecticut & New York Taste of Spain Tour 2014, Luncheon at Suquet de L'Almirall,, La Barceloneta, Barcelona. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

 Then Quim Marquès himself came out with two paellas catalanas con mariscos, mar y muntanya (Catalan "sea and mountain" paellas), with cigalas (Dublin Bay prawns), mejillones (mussels), pollo (chicken) and ciruelas pasas (prunes) and plated each portion for our group. 

 

 

Chef-owner Quim Marquès shows his paella Catalana con mariscos, mar y muntanya (Catalan "sea and mountain" paella) with cigalas (Dublin Bay prawns), mejillones (mussels), pollo (chicken) and ciruelas pasas (prunes), Suquet de L'Almirall, La Barceloneta, Barcelona. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

After a walk on La Barceloneta beach, we caught a municipal bus whose route took us from the port to the front door of the Hotel Cram.   We had the rest of the afternoon free until dinner to explore Barcelona.

For our second dinner in Barcelona, Gerry set up a reservation at the Michelin 2-star restaurant, ABaC, where the star chef is Jordi Cruz, the youngest chef ever to receive a Michelin star in Spain and probably headed soon for Barcelona’s first three-star restaurant rating. 

 

Jordi Cruz in his open kitchen at ABaC Restaurante, Hotel ABaC, Barcelona. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon EOS 6D / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

Jordi is one of the most brilliant cocina de vanguardia, avant-garde cuisine, chefs in the world. The value of the reservation was underscored when, as Gerry was lining up to take a photograph of our chefs group in front of ABaC before dinner, a taxi arrived and he was standing face to face with a friend of his, Roser Torras (Directora of grup gsr - produccions de gastronomia, one of most brilliant culinary event producers in the world), who was arriving for dinner as well. We were invited into ABaC's open kitchen, then we were seated at an elegantly appointed table and Jordi Cruz and his kitchen staff began to dazzle us with opening dishes such as a Nitro passion fruit “mojito,” shellfish (razor clams and cockles) bloody Mary snow and Mexican foie gras (foie with mole ice cream, corn powder and Vera Cruz salt), followed by creations such as sea urchin curry with Kafir, an anguila (sea eel) “sandwich,” Parmesan gnocchi with raw mushrooms, nuts, truffle oil and a mushroom infusion with lemongrass. A bone-dry Balma Gran Reserva Brut Nature Cava from Mas Bertran was served with the appetizers and was followed by an excellent white La Conreria d'Scala Dei Priorat Les Brugueres 2010 Garnacha Blanca.  

 

 We were seated at an elegantly appointed table at ABaC and Jordi Cruz and his kitchen staff began to dazzle us with opening dishes such as a Nitro passion fruit “mojito.” Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 24mm f/2.8 (from lensrentals.com).

In all, there were sixteen dishes on Cruz’s menu, which finished with cocina de vanguardia versions of Casarecce pasta cooked in a squid broth, with sea cucumbers (espardenyes), Comté cheese and lemon basil with white truffles; red mullet with tomato bread, “concentrated” onions and lemongrass alioli; and hare royale with fermented “potato” (bread fermented with shallots, shaped to resemble a potato,) foie gras and Japanese mustard, accompanied by a red from the indigenous Catalan grape Trepat, Succés Vinícola del Viver El Mentider Trepat 2011. 

In just two days in Barcelona, our group of chefs managed to meet a slew of Gerry Dawes's culinary star friends, including Barcelona chefs Carles Abellàn (Comerç 24, Tapas 24 and several other restaurants), ABaC’s Jordi Cruz, Juanito Bayen (owner of the legendary market bar Pinotxo), Quím Marquéz (Quím de la Boquería), Quím Marqués (Suquet de L’Almirall), Roser Torras, Mas Gourmets owner Jorge Mas, market stand owners’ association President Salvador Capdevila, La Boquería President Oscar Uribe, Llorenç Petras, the Maestro of Mushrooms and Sergi Ferrer, the owner of Monvinic Wine Bar and Ferrer Bobet winery in Priorat.
 

Looking out on the intersection of Carrer Aragó and Carrer Aribau from my room in Hotel Cram (with New York locked in the ravages of a Polar vortex winter), where I stayed with our group of chefs.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4.

Next up:  Day Three, Jan. 15, San Sadurni D'Anoia (cava country) and authentic paella in Valencia.

* * * * *

  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