Barthelona

So I wasn't with Norey and Cha on their trip to Napa or Sushi House, but I've been to Sushi House a ton of times and its one of my favorite sushi restaurants, so I can't wait for Cha's review on that. Anyway, I wanted to post something but I don't have any pictures of food from restaurants I've tried recently. So I dug up this picture. Just your basic "from up top" view of an extraordinarily delicious meal from the party capital of Europe: Barcelona. Not only does its siesta (the afternoon nap in which just about everything except for restaurants, cathedrals and other tourist spots are closed from 3-5pm), the infamous Las Ramblas, its San Miguel, and the fact that its clubs dont open till 12, start poppin till 3, and close after sunrise, all come together beautifully to create an environment conducive to partying your ass off....BUT they got some food too! its cheap, its delicious, and pairs well with a jug of sangria and a cigarette to top it all off.

The dish that I ordered is the plate on the left. Yeah, looks like nothing but a sampler plater of cakes and breadsticks, i know. Actually though, its a tortilla sampler, and this ain't no Mexican tortilla because I know thats what you're thinking. Think of the Spanish tortilla as an omelet, quiche, or fritada, if you will. A ham and cheese one, A spinach one, and a potato and onion one. Of the three, my favorite was the potato and onion one, although they were all just great! I know you're thinking: "come on! its a freakin omelet!". But no, it tastes more than that. Reminds me of when my mom would always make these bomb ass scrambled eggs that I could never duplicate on my own. It was frustrating because I too was like: "come on! its freakin scrambled eggs". Little did I know that that shit was laced with MSG. MSG in my scrambled eggs! If you have no problem with MSG, I'd recommend substituting your salt and pepper for MSG and pepper. Anyway, these "tortillas" tasted as if they were laced with something more than MSG...something to the potency of crack cocaine. The cheese in the ham and cheese tortilla offered just enough saltiness. It was an interesting too because it wasn't the melt in your mouth cheese youre probably thinking of. Think of the cheese on a room temperature pizza. That's similar to its texture when its hot and cooked. Now think of the part of the pizza, which is usually near or on the crust, were the cheese is slightly burned, but not too much. That's similar to the taste.

The spinach one tasted exactly how it sounds.

The potato and onion tortilla though was interesting because the texture was a lot more potato-y than it looks. I thought it was gonna be a fluffy omelet with pieces of potato in the middle. But no, think of a fork tender potato in which you can feel hints of the sponginess of an omelet and just the right pinch of onion flavor. And don't forget the crack that makes its highly addictive, because you know I came back the next day for some. Oh, I forgot to mention something cool about Spanish food. It usually consists of tapas, which are appetizers, some of which are pickeled and some of which are salads. They're super cheap and you often end up ordering a ton of different kinds. Its real fun to just go to a tapas bar that has dozens of tapas, from mussels, to little chorizo sausages, to smoked salmon, to calamari, all on toothpicks on silver places propped up on stands. The waiter gives you a plate and everything is pretty much fair game. You keep your toothpicks on your plate and at the end the waiter counts all your toothpicks (there are no trashcans so you can't cheat and throw them away, unless maybe you stick them in your pocket, but thats just ghetto because shits already cheap there) and he charges you per toothpick. Anyway, I'm straying. The three sticks you see on top of the tortillas are actually breadsticks. The way the Spanish have there bread is rather simple, they take a tomato and rub it on the bread (which doesn't even have to be hot) and drizzle some olive oil on it. I like to think of it as the lazy man's bruschetta. After all, this is the country that promotes the midafternoon nap! Fuck toasting the bread and dicing the tomatos, when you can just rub that shit on some cold bread and still have it be good as fuck.

The sangria was nice and strong. Now I've had sangria at other places and it was sissy shit, except for Cha Cha Cha's which actually has some good, strong sangria. And their flan, just heavenly! I dont know about you, but Filipino leche flan is a bit too creamy and dense for me. My aunt actually makes flan, professionally. hah, yeah like she sells it, so professionally would be the right word I think. But yeah, she puts 12 egg yolks in one batch! I actually prefer the light, slightly jello-y Spanish flan that melts down into wonderfulness when it hits your tongue and you press it against the roof of your mouth like how you would with ice cream. Then you finish the meal off with a cigarette, right there, because you can smoke anywhere. And if you don't have one on you, you can walk 7 feet over to your right where theres a cigarette vending machine in the restaurant. I swear, the Spanish are genius! Everything makes sense. Naps, light meals, light desserts, all provide just enough energy and room for the strong Sangria during your meal and Absinthe later on for partying. And just when you feel like your food high and alcohol buzz needs a lift, you can get some nicotine in two shakes of a bunny's tale. Mmhmm.