Some last thoughts on Barcelona

As I start to pack for my train to Pamplona in 6 hours, I realized that I haven't addressed food yet, so here goes:

I have really tried to be "all over the place" with my dining. I've eaten at:

- Numerous bodegas (for tapas)
- Chinese restaurant
- Beach-side swanky places
- Bar food (not quite worthy of the "tapas" designation)
- Hotel food
- Hard Rock Cafe (yes, I know, but I didn't want to shun any genre)
- I even had McDonald's while I was buying my train ticket the other day

And here's the scoop: I have mixed feelings.

The tapas, frankly, were a bit disappointing. Things were either fairly exotic (lots of squid, octopus and anchovies (they LOVE anchovies here)), or things were too fried (I ordered a prawn croquette, but it turned out to be something like you'd get at Bennigan's. There was so much cheese and batter I couldn't taste the shrimp!) Also, they use a crazy amount of cheese in everything. I know that SOUNDS good, but it's not. I had a little tiny ham (Jamon Iberico) and cheese (goat cheese) pizza the other night, but the cheese completely dominated everything else.

Now, I'll take a second to admit that I'm not a hard core foodie like Justin, Meredith and Traci. I will opt for a bowl of chili over an arugula salad most any day. BUT. I do consider myself open-minded and adventurous, so I try most stuff. Bottom line is that my expectations were probably a little too high. I hate to say this, but I like (good) US tapas restaurants better than Spain tapas.

On the positive side, I have had some great meals. I love their soups here. This may sound gay, but I had an awesome pumpkin gazpacho the other day (yep, gay). (I actually ordered a second bowl for my main course). I also had probably the best spaghetti bolognese in my life.....overlooking the Mediterranean (this time, the extra cheese was good....the noodles were completely soaked with Parmesan). A big appetizer that is popular (and rightly so) is pan con tomate. Smushed tomatoes are spread like a paste onto a variety of different breads mostly baguettes. Good stuff.

I will also say that I did not ever make time to eat in the uber-upscale tapas restaurants. When my friend Stacy visits late in the month, we're going to eat at Inopia, which some folks (like Mario Battaglia) say is the best restaurant in the entire country.

Wine is a bit different here too. Mostly everything is just house wine (the bartenders think it's very strange when I ask to see the bottle, because, hey, it's just wine!). "Un baso de vino tinto" will almost always get you a Rioja, or another tempranillo-based grape wine. All in all, the house wines are very good for the price (less than 3 euros a glass).

The Hard Rock Cafe menu is EXACTLY the same as the last place I had (Tahoe, I believe). I found this interesting. And everyone in there was a Brit. Also interesting. Of course they all speak fluent Spanish, but it turns out that they do so with a British accent. Amateurs.

Most restaurants have 3 different menus (Castilian, Catalan, and English). My little game with myself was to try to get them to give me the Castilian menu because they thought I spoke Spanish. I usually won. It's interesting, actually, since my accent and pronunciation are apparently very good, and if I start the conversation (with a pre-planned sentence), the person usually will assume I'm fluent (good!), and start speaking radidly back to me (bad!). Luckily, when I pull out my secret sentence (lo siento, mi espanol is muy mal.), they love me! "No, No, No, hablas muy bien!"

I'll talk to you in Pamplona, ya'll.

-S