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You don't think it's Bea Hinds?

Listening to flamenco and wondering whether my preferred porn name is Sherry Earthquake or Island Shrimp. Leaning towards the first.

I don’t want to go home. But I want to be in Harlem. ☹️

Oh, this was probably in Madrid. Or Grenada.

Fatherhood? As in, Wilfrid: "I am your father Darth."

I never imagined La Sosenga would be the knockout meal of the trip, but what a finale. It’s not as elegant and relaxed as Hisop and does not have quite the ingredients. But it has invention (rooted in old tradition like the much-missed Ateneu Gastronomic with its re-creations of medieval Catalunyan cuisine). Also the two women running FOH still are just adorable, I remember them so well. This is a reservations place and fills up fast. I got away with a walk-in as the doors opened last time. This was a reservation at the bar and the bar is not super-comfortable; go with someone recommended. From the verbal specials, two skewers of anchovies that announce the meal; curled and pickly, joined by a good olive, smeared with balancing cheese (and something; I’m trying) paste and capped with a spicy pedron pepper. Then a dish close to what I ate last time here. Very thinly sliced and cooked pork belly with tiny pieces of that pepper and little globes of full-flavored eggplant sauce. The meat entrees here are deeply invested in cuts cooked forever until they surrender. No grilled or roast meats here. Last time it was a sponge-soft piece of beef with orange slices (must be on the tasting because it was still going out). I ate pig’s feet, but entirely divested of bone and gristle and shaped into a kind of cutlet, then bathed in a thick chocolate and ginger sauce. Nothing sweet going on here; wonderful. Oh, and tart chewy downhome spinach on the side. And shards of Jerusalem artichoke. I have avoided dessert throughout this trip, but I trusted the fresh figs with two kinds of nuts and a creamy Catalan mato cheese sauce and delicious. I am not saying fly to Barcelona for this but if you are here it should be high on your list.

Before I met you I believe, the truth is that I did wear a little beard at that first meet-up. I think Glyn called it a toothbrush.

Stone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You and Diz.

Exact same fucker on the bar yesterday, same result. Mosquitoes currently two games behind Wilfrid.

I’ll put this here rather than in the Barcelona thread because it means a lot to me. How many years ago did I first meet fellow eGullet members in a bar; the Johnsons, Liza, Macrosan.? And I know for sure I was wearing, perhaps pretentiously, a beret from Barcelona. I still have it; it’s over thirty years old. I bought it and many subsequent Catalunyan berets from Sombreria Obach in the Barri Gotic. The old guy I bought from died a few years back. The store turned 100 this year and I was able to go and congratulate the grandson who is now running it. It was a happy thing to do. Of course, I didn’t need another hat because I have 7 or 8 and they never wear out. (See my profile photo.)

Shit, they just brought me a big bowl of olives I don’t particularly need. I guess I spent some money here.

Ah, never ever in Barcelona. In the south, perhaps in Madrid, but certainly in smaller places, yes a free tapa per drink (at least when I was there, what 7 or more years ago). In Barcelona, tapas means small plates on a priced menu. And to be fair, the origins of tapas are in the hot south.

I thought you get a tapa with every drink. I haven't been to Spain since I turned 30 there (so, like, a couple of weeks ago), but I remember that like it was yesterday.

It may be Friday 13th but I am in an old bar where they know me and the music playing I remember from traveling with my mother and father as a pre-teen. Also they just gifted me a tapa.

The great Boadas was closed Tuesday and Wednesday for Catalonia Day and last night’s logistics sent me to Ideal Cocktail Bar. Finally made it tonight. Martinez. Hanky Panky (yes of course it looks the same).

For some reason I had never been to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Raval. Maybe it’s not quite as big as the Design Museum, but big it is. Just one of the current shows features 13 installations by different artists. Set aside a couple of hours at least. Then a more compact but very good exhibit of Jeff Wall’s huge and mysterious photos at Palau de la Virreina. A few pintxos with a great funky cider at Irati because it’s late for lunch and I anticipate, if not a heavy, then a rich and challenging dinner at La Sosenga. Hot art below by Sinead Spelman (MACBA), then Jeff Wall.

It’s astonishing to think I have been visiting Hisop for 18 or 19 years. It still looks brand new and nothing ever changes. Except the availability of cheese; they were getting badly kept, runny stuff so they have suspended the cheese course until October. Amuses: a diced shrimp thing, then a sliver of raw fish over the same fish tempura. Veal tongue with very mild summer truffles. John Dory “en espeto.” Google couldn’t help with that; apparently it means crisping the protein on one side (skin side in this case) while barely touching the other. So I cook salmon “en espeto,” who knew? Super crisp skin on the cochinillo too, dabbed with a shrimp and wasabi garnish. One negative is that, other than cava, they have never served BTG, so I had a half bottle that went well with one of my dishes. No problem serving me a glass of cognac. Then I went back to the hotel and ate the cheese in the wardrobe.

Many memories but yes from many years ago.

NYT on La Grenouille closing.

It’s an old school thing, isn’t it, to fill a martini glass to the brim and beyond so that the bartender can’t move it without spilling and mopping and the only way to start drinking is to go face down in it. A tradition happily declining in these days of coupes. At least the brimful glasses here don’t hold half a bottle of gin. That was the problem at Maria’s Mont Blanc. Luis was proudly skilled at filling the glasses, but they were like fish bowls. Two and you might fall over (my solution, switch to pilsener).

The road to Hisop always leads through Ideal Cocktail Bar, bow ties and old school.

Manhattan French Stalwart La Grenouille Will Close (grubstreet.com)

My colleague and I were listening to him randomly at work on Tuesday after everyone left. A name that doesn't come up often. The next day, this news came across.

Going tonight. The current menu has a 9 course tasting…with wine pairings…for 120e (90e without). I will go by the carte as usual because I would rather have cheese than several desserts.