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March 22, 2004
Queviures Restaurant, Barcelona, Spain
We found Queviures Restaurant while strolling around in the Eixample district of Barcelona. Unlike most American restaurants, Spanish restaurants do not stay open continuously from open to close. Restaurants may open for lunch hours, close for siesta hours, and reopen at 8PM for dinner, for example. While we were initially annoyed by this, we learned to follow customs, and wait until at least 7:30PM to start looking around for places to eat. This certainly added a certain "que sera sera" element to our travels.
When I walked into "QuQu", as this restaurants calls itself, in shortened form, I immediately liked the setting. It looked and felt like I was walking into the biggest tapas bar restaurant I had yet seen in Spain. All of the food was being prepared in an open air market fashion, and I quickly picked out my favorites. However, besides my favorites, there were a lot of other items I had not seen before, but definitely wanted to try. You can just imagine my dilemma at having to limit my order to what I could eat. That was difficult to do.
Here's what we settled on - omlette with wild mushrooms and garlic shoots, chorizo, jamon iberico with tomato bread, a pitcher of sangria, croquettes with jamon, sipia calamar hamburger, smoked salmon, steamed veggies, and crystallized apple with cherry sauce and soft cheese. Actually, I think I ordered two desserts. I got the feeling the waiter was quite impressed. He asked me if I was sure I wanted two desserts, and when I nodded, he took off, and I caught him talking to another waiter and showing him my order. Truly amusing, but it was 8PM, and I was starving. Besides, I probably walked 7 miles that day already, sightseeing around Barcelona.
I loved the omlette with mushrooms and garlic shoots. It was probably the tastiest omelette I've ever had. One thing I noticed is that in Spain, a tortilla is completely different than the Mexican tortillas we have here in the States. For example, all the tortillas I had in Barcelona were basically omelettes with other ingredients added in. Anyhow, tortillas are not flour-based in Spain. Chorizos, or Spanish sausages, are popular. Depending on who is making the chorizo, it can be spicy. I think QuQu has it just about right. Of course, we had to get the jamon iberico. Every tapas place has jamon iberico, and every place has great jamon iberico. I pratically lived off of jamon iberico the whole time I was in Barcelona. If I were to try and make it at home, I would use something like a french baguette, except not as thick, and drizzle olive oil on the sliced bread surfaces. On top of that, I would add minced tomatoes and perhaps slices of Manchego cheese. Last of all, I would shave off slices of jamon iberico - cured pork leg - and add the slices on the bread. Now I have a crusty, savory submarine-like sandwich, which is called bocadillos in Spain. The ham, or jamon croquettes were very tasty. The sipia calamar hamburger is not beef-based at all. Rather, it is calamari and octopus kind of chopped very finely and formed into a patty. It's kind of like eating crab cakes. We really enjoyed that dish. For some reason, smoked salmon tastes better in Spain then it does here. Is that because most of our salmon is farmed? I think it makes a big difference in taste. We got the steamed veggies because it seems like we hardly had the chance to eat veggies in Spain. Oh, I shouldn't forget to mention the wonderful sangria we had. Top all this food off with the desserts - the carmelized apple, and a custard flan - and I was already drifting off thinking about buying a vacation house in Spain.
Posted by Kathy at March 22, 2004 10:31 PM