The best thing I ate in Barcelona: El Quim + La Boqueria

La Boqueria is the bustling market tucked right in the middle of La Rambla, Barcelona's tree lined central boulevard. Most hours of the day La Boqueria (and La Rambla) is overrun with tourists but it's well worth the effort spent braving the crush. Inside is foodie mecca. I spent several of my mornings at the market, including my first and second in the city, splurging on seafood breakfasts, buying souvenirs and gifts, and photographing just about everything.

Thursday morning (day two) I was prepared to fight the crowds to get to El Quim, one of the more popular mini-restaurants sprinkled throughout the market. Despite warnings of long waits, there were plenty of open stools when I visited around 11 am. On the recommendations of too many bloggers to count, I ordered  huevos con chipirones. They were fantastic, probably my favorite meal of the trip.

The thimble sized baby squids are served on top of two perfectly fried eggs. Through gestures, your server will tell you to slash through the eggs to release the yolk, enriching the purple sauce of squid ink. The dish is liberally sprinkled with crisp, flaky sea salt adding seasoning and a subtle crunch. Super tender and just a bit sweet, the squid tasted of the sea, not overly salty in the least. At El Quim I also had my first taste of Spanish coffee. I ordered un cortado, a espresso cut with a little milk. Unsurprisingly, it was excellent. I hear cava is popular too, even in the morning, so feel free to order a little bubbly with your breakfast.

Another must-try: zumos. Sold for 1-2 euros, they're the ultra fresh juices sold at the fruit stalls near the front of the market. I tried multiple flavors over the course of the week; coconut strawberry, strawberry lime, kiwi coconut banana, and mango orange. My favorite was the pretty green kiwi coconut banana, the little kiwi seeds add just enough texture and acid to cut through the creamy coconut and banana.

La Boqueria boasts several fantastic restaurants but its main attraction is the hundreds of stalls stocking every kind of meat, seafood, spice, and produce you could possibly need. Though the market is always stuffed with tourists, plenty of locals patiently brave the crowds to buy their groceries.

Itty bitty chorizos and sausages at one of the many ham stalls. And more salted cod, aka bacalao, than anyone in America would know what to do with.

Oozy razor clams are actually delicious when cooked up on la plancha, a flattop griddle.

Pretty little truffles and turrones (Spanish nougat-like almond candy)  are everywhere. But don't touch! It's rude and totally unhygienic, point out which you want and let the owner serve or package it up for you.

Zumos and fresh fruit! Still kicking myself for not trying out the pitahaya flavor, just for the amazing fuchsia color.

Snapshots of Barcelona

I've been back for just over a week and I'm already missing Spain like crazy. And not just the perfect blue skies and breezy, sunny days (allergies, what allergies?) People keep asking me my favorite thing about Barcelona and it's actually been a hard question to answer. My week of vacation feels so separate from my normal existence, like it was on a whole different level of reality. There weren't any life changing moments, it was all good. There were a few hiccups, sure, but my experiences in Barcelona were overwhelmingly positive.

Traveling alone was intimidating in theory, but the reality was pretty stress free. I felt less pressure to get things right. It wasn't a problem when I got lost or screwed up the metro (and let me tell you, it's pretty hard to screw up. Barcelona public transit is easy peasy.) I could wake up late, meander around the city, and, most of all, take as many pictures as I wanted without holding anyone else up.

Breakfast most days was pastry and cafe con leche (like a super strong, mini latte) or un cortado (espresso cut with milk.) And sometimes a glass of juice. My favorite was the chocolate croissant pictured below. This seemed to be the thing to do in Barcelona, coffee and pasty on the go.

I love both, but I need a little more protein in me to really get going. So, a few mornings, I splurged on seafood feasts at la Boqueria, more on those soon. And more on gourmet drinking chocolate and patatas bravas and razor clams. Gorgeous food is everywhere. Just like you can't turn a corner in Barcelona without running into amazing architecture, there are almost too many restaurants to choose from. And bakeries! So many bakeries, I loved the little porcupine cakes decorating the window display seen above.

I'm still making my way through the 2800 photos I snapped. If you're interested you can find the whole set here. I think they look best on black, through flickr's slideshow feature. I'll be back soon with food!

Hello Spring, and lunch at Chow Bar

Did we even have a winter? Well, technically of course its still winter, but these last few months months were mild and foggy, temperatures above 30 most days. I barely got a chance to wear my new fancy winter coat. That snow you see in the photo above lasted around 12 hours before melting away. Now that it's finally March, it feels like summer has come early. Thunderstorms and tornadoes, humid and hot. But my fave thing about spring is the longer days, more time to photograph food!

Katy and I eat at Chow Bar quite often for lunch. Mostly the buffet, it's easy and fast, just far enough from the library to feel like a real break. It also has quite a few options you don't see at the average Chinese buffet. Lots of seafood and scallions, I think the menu leans Taiwanese. I like the salt and pepper squid and chicken. Katy loves the mapo tofu. The green bean and eggplant in garlic sauce is delicious. There are also tons of flavors of bubble tea. The regular menu is massive, so when we order instead of eating from the buffet it can be hard to choose. Here's a recent lunch.

Dumplings in Chili Oil. These were pretty good. Filled with a scallion and pork mixture, the wrappers were bit too thick and chewy. The chili oil had good heat and maybe even a touch of sesame rich tahini? If I was going to order an appetizer again I'd probably go for the chicken wings - extra crispy and seasoned with tons of salt and pepper.

Rice bowl with fried chicken and miso sauce. Not my fave, but still tasty. The miso sauce is mild and salty but the initially crisp chicken gets soggy pretty quickly. Tons of steamed white rice is hiding under that chicken. The bonus greenery of the boc choy stalks is appreciated.

Eggplant with garlic sauce. Smothered in sweet-spicy brown sauce, I love that they use tons of actual garlic. The eggplant flesh becomes meltingly tender, pulling easily away from the skin. Plus how pretty are the shimmery purple hunks of eggplant?

Szechuan Tofu. The slippery hunks of bean curd are slicked in a slightly funky, spicy chili oil sauce. This one  is pretty addictive, I bet the Szechuan chicken would be excellent as well.

Happy springtime!

Chow Bar
336-3888 ‎ 
216 S. Indiana Ave
Bloomington, In 47408

The Rail

The honest truth is I haven't been cooking much. Barely at all, really. When I do it's roasted veg, (broccoli or cabbage or slow, caramel-y sweet potatoes) a piecemeal pasta salad, or a bowl of jasmine rice and a fried egg. Nothing worth writing about (except the things that I've already written about, of course.)  Restaurants though, I've eaten at my fair share lately. For lunch, for dinner, all over. We'll see how far I get.

That article I told you about, the one about the burgers. That's on it's way soon. I was able to see the proof yesterday, and I'm so very excited to finally see it in print. Even more exciting, I'm planning a trip to Barcelona! At the end of April, first week of May, I'll be in Spain for just over a week. I'm traveling alone to Europe for the first time so any tips, about would be ever so helpful. But in the meantime I have plenty of restaurants to share. Starting off with a meal I shared with my friends Katy and Jessica, way way back in October.

The Rail is a lovely little small plates and cocktail spot run by a few Bloomington kids around my age. Named for the train tracks that border the intimate bar and restaurant, The Rail boasts a brief, well edited menu comprised of elegant but approachable small plates. The craft cocktail menu is full of updated classics prepared with care, like the Manhattan or Old Fashioned. All of the food we tasted was top notch. I haven't been back yet, but I'd love to visit again. The menu is seasonal so there would be plenty of new bites to try. Above is the prettiest cocktail I've ever had the pleasure of drinking, the Aviation. Tinted lavender from creme de violette, there was a bit of tart citrus and maraschino liquor in the mix. Katy had a Pimm's Cup (pictured at the bottom of the post) that was both warming and refreshing, flavored with ginger and cucumber.

The potato pancake above was perfectly tasty. There was potentially a bit of sweet potato in the mix as the pancake hit a nice balance of sweet and savory, accented by the creamy tang of scattered goat cheese (local! capriole.) The runny yolk from the fried quail egg added a layer of richness. The photo below shows a smoked salmon spread with a hint of lemon atop cucumber slices, sprinkled with briney fried capers.

We also shared the cheese plate seen up top. It was very good, though that blue was a bit too strong for my palate. Then again, I'm a cheese wimp. But the best thing small plate of the night was the lamb sliders pictured at the top of the post. Seated in adorable little pretzel buns (just barely toasted) the sliders were so tender and flavorful. The acidic chimichurri drizzled on the patty cut through the meatiness of the lamb in the best way.  Plus the whispy shoestring fries on the side were beyond good. We finished off the meal with a cup of house-made peanut butter ice cream smothered in some jammy cherry syrup. Delicious.

The Rail
825 N. Walnut St.
Bloomington, IN 47404 
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The end of fall, and some lunch

What a difference a few weeks make. I feel like I just broke out my boots and tights for fall. And then nature goes and dumps a few hours worth of snow on us. It was wet and gloomy and miserable. I've been out of commission with strep throat for a few days. Tuesday I took a nap around noon and woke to a white winter wasteland out my window. I did not regret that final sick day.

I bought a new camera recently, the Nikon D7000. I'm thrilled with the purchase so far but haven't gotten around doing much shooting. The camera's low light capabilities really helped me make my choice. I've gotten to shoot with it at one concert so far and the high iso options were great (also helpful for some recent burger photos.) So I'm going to try and do some regular Bloomington lunch posts just to keep in the groove of writing about and shooting my food.

I eat out for lunch quite a bit. On a good day I have Katy for company. This is a typical lunch at uber popular Village Deli. It's right across the street from work so, while the food is good (not great,) it's convenient enough to be a regular spot for us. Plus you can order from the breakfast or lunch menu and I'm all about the options.

My typical order is the Spinach Scramble, sans onion. It's a simple egg scramble with bacon, swiss cheese, and spinach. Deep fried home fries on the side. Add a few glugs of cholula hot sauce and you've got a nice meal for a rainy day.

If you follow the blog by RSS feed, last week you may have seen a little preview of a post I'm finishing up, pickled serrano peppers. I accidentally hit publish instead of save, oops! But it's coming, long overdue I know. Summer already feels so far away.

Chicago - Hot Dougs Redux

I love Hot Doug's. This was only my second visit despite multiple trips to Chicago in the last few years, mostly due to the long lines and general inconvenience. But I'd been planning this trip out to Avondale for months. It didn't take much to convince Carly to come with, her two year experiment as a vegetarian was foiled by a too-tempting hot dog. Last minute we coerced my parents into tagging along (aka, do the driving) and they sure were glad they did. Carly and I were especially happy to avoid the ~hour commute by public transit. Despite the hour and a half wait everyone loved their hot dogs, it was by far the most memorable meal of our vacation.

While we were waiting an ice cream truck pulled up and I thought "genius idea, this dude is going to do great with all people waiting patiently in line." But nope, it seemed most of the queue was saving their appetites for gourmet sausage. Carly was one of the few to give in to the icy temptation. She chose a bomb pop even though there were dozens of other more interesting treats on the menu.

Ribeye Steak Sausage with Chimichurri, Ardagh Wine Cheese and Crispy Fried Onions

The four of us each picked a sausage plus a few extras and passed them around. This was Carly's main sausage. The encased meat was beefy and substantial with a tangy chimichurri and delicately crisp fried onions. And so pretty with the mottled pink and cream wine cheese.

Swedish Potato Sausage with Dill Mustard and Horseradish Havarti Cheese

This was mom's pick and it was delicious. The potato sausage was particularly tender, more give, less snap to the casing. Quite a bit better than the potato sausage I had at Ann Sather. The horseradish cheese added a nice kick to the mild sausage.

Burgundy and Orange Pork Sausage with Roasted Garlic Aioli and Cheese-Stuffed Hot Peppers

Definitely our least favorite sausage of the day. The gring on the meat was pretty coarse, leaving the sausage unpleasantly tough and chunky. Unfortunately the orange just seemed to intensify the gamey-ness of the pork. The aioli was quite good and so were the cheesy hot peppers, but the elements just didn't work together.

Cheddar Cheese Pork Sausage with Coca-Cola BBQ Sauce and Vintage Farmhouse Cheese

We had no complaints, this one was super tasty. One change I noticed from my visit in 2009, the cheese on the dogs seems to be cubed a bit smaller and there seems to be less of it. I definitely approve, the sausages are easier to eat and the cheese rarely overpowers the meat.

The Dog

Classic, awesome. Great snap on the hot dog! And so cheap, just $2. It was Carly's favorite of the day. It's a classic for a reason, and Hot Doug's does it especially well. You choose how the dog is cooked - steamed, grilled, deep fried, etc. Ours was grilled, the casing taut and charred, giving way to the salty, juicy innards.

Smoked Portuguese Linguica with Saffron Rouille and Olive Manchego Cheese

My chosen encased meat, the sausage was fantastic, spicy and fatty with tons of snap. The rouille was spicy without being hot, French's mustard yellow, but with so much more flavor. This is the sausage I keep thinking about, wishing I could have another.

Duck Fat Fries

And, of course, the Duck Fat Fries. If you visit on Friday or Saturday, and you should, don't bother with the regular fries, duck fat all the way. Deep fried to a perfect caramel-y brown, the fries are surprisingly light yet satisfyingly crisp. Great on their own, yummy with ketchup, but now I wonder if you could order a side of, say, roasted garlic aioli or that amazing saffron rouille to dip? Perhaps next time I will dare to ask.

I've still not tried the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage, perhaps the most famous Hot Doug hot dog. Bourdain raved about it on No Reservations and it's ever popular on flickr. Someday I will try it, someday! As usual Doug was behind the counter taking orders. And just like last time, when Dad tried to order a large soda he recommended a small instead as refills are unlimited. Go to Hot Doug's, it's worth the wait. And don't forget your cash!

Hot Doug's
3324 N California Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 279-9550
Menu including daily specials!