The Bazaar Revisited: 21 Course Extravaganza

I've been curious to try the Bazaar again after my memorable meal at Albert Adria's Tickets in Barcelona last year, just to see how it matches up. A. was in town and invited me along to a firm dinner; of course I couldn't pass up a free meal at the Bazaar. With 8 people, we had "Jose's Favorites Tasting Menu, with 21 courses. Definitely my most extravagant meal at Bazaar, between this meal and my previous meals, I think I've tried pretty much the entire menu. While fun and tasty, it is still hard to put the Bazaar in the same league as Tickets. Part of it has to do with the ingredients; there's just something special about the local silky rich Spanish olive oil, plump and sweet tomatoes, and fresh seafood. I think the other part is just the care and attention that goes into each dish; I feel like the dishes at Tickets were much more concise, carefully thought out and assembled, making for a more memorable and powerful bite. As an example, the spherical olives at the Bazaar just didn't have that magical indulgent pop and ooze of the similar spherical olives at Tickets. There were also several dishes on the tasting menu that just lacked that "wow" factor. Reflecting back on it and looking at the menu, I'm not sure I can really pinpoint any standout dishes, although I think part of it is that I've been a few times and the novelty has worn off a bit. Still, there's nothing like the scene at SLS / the Bazaar, the place was packed and hopping on a Thursday night, and it's easier than a trip to Spain. Apologies for the quality of the pictures; I didn't bring my DSLR as I was a guest, but I took a couple of quick iPhone shots of about half of the dishes.

Olives: Modern and Traditional

Top to bottom: Mussel Can En Escabeche, King Crab Can: Raspberries, Raspberry Vinegar

Jamon Iberico

Market Fish Ceviche and Avocado Roll: Jicama Micro Cilantro, Coconut Dressing

Not Your Everyday Caprese: Cherry Tomatoes, Liquid Mozzarella. Sadly my mozzarella sphere went splat on the table before I could eat it

"The Ultimate Spanish Tapa!" Ensaladilla Rusa: Potatoes, Carrots, Mayo, Tuna Belly. Least favorite dish of the night

Papas Canarias: Salty Wrinkled Potatoes, Mojo Verde

Seared Squid: Artichokes, Chicken Escabeche

Bunuelos: Codfish fritters, honey aioli

Seared Mary's Farm Chicken: Honey dates, mustard caviar, spicy mustard greens

Sauteed Wild Mushrooms: Hazelnut praline

Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks: California Citrus

Philly Cheesesteak: Air bread, cheddar, Wagyu beef

Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta: Apricots and Muscat gelatin

Creamy Chocolate Heart: coffee and cardamom. I'm not a fan of the cardamom, just throws the dish off for me.

Tableside caipairinha preparation

The frozen caipairinha. Sadly, I did not get the chance to try this one.

Day 6: Arrival in Barcelona, La Boqueria and Bar Pinotxo, and Montjuic and the Fundacio Joan Miro

We sadly had to say goodbye to San Sebastian on Tuesday and took the early Renfe train from San Sebastian to Barcelona (66 euros).  After the lengthy 6 hour train ride, we arrived just in time for lunch.  We checked into the Market Hotel and walked over to the Boqueria for a late lunch at Bar Pinotxo.  S. and I visited Bar Pinotxo on our last trip to Barcelona and fortunately, it hasn't changed a bit.  The food is simple and tasty: the freshest seafood prepared simply with little more than good olive oil and sea salt.  We finished around 4pm as the bar and most of the market was shutting down for the day (note for future: go in the morning).

These chickpeas really hit the spot

I love these little guys; I've never seen them in the states.

Some of the Boqueria's food stalls.  Unfortunately many were already closed for the day.

For me, the bounty of seafood is the most impressive thing about the Boqueria

I'm disappointed that I didn't get the chance to try percebes this trip

Look at those crazy razor clams!

After the Boqueria, we wandered around Las Ramblas a bit, making our first Gaudi stop at Palau Guell, and then headed up to Montjuic via the funicular to visit the Fundacio Joan Miro, a museum dedicated to Joan Miro. Z is a huge Miro fan, and it was really cool to see a bunch of his work chronologically and in the context of contemporaneous political events. I definitely see his work through a different perspective now.

Colorful Gaudi chimneys! I love the whimsy and use of color and shapes in Gaudi's work.

Joan Miro's "Lune, Soleil et Une Etoile" sculpture (1968) overlooking Barcelona

We stayed at the Market Hotel near the Mercat San Antoni while in Barcelona. It was quite reasonable at 69 euros a night. It had a funky modern charm to it, with Asian inspired red and black decor and giant Mao paintings, with a cool red bar and classic Parisian bistro looking restaurant downstairs. The rooms were a little small and quite loud, although every place that we stayed in Spain was loud, and we couldn't get a room with two beds. Otherwise, location was perfect; walking distance to Las Ramblas, Passeig de Gracia and the Paral.lel.

 Market Hotel
Pasatge de Sant Antoni Abad, 10
08015 Barcelona, Spain
933 251 205

Day 4: Pintxos for Breakfast, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Pintxos for Dinner and Partying in San Sebastian

We made our first pintxos stop at Bar Aralar, conveniently located on the same street as our Pension, for a quick breakfast bite before catching the Pesa bus to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, about 1 hour away from San Sebastian (10 euros).

In the pintxos bars of San Sebastian, the cold pintxos are displayed on the bar and you can just help yourself to whatever looks good and settle up with the barman at the end

It was a typically rainy gray day in Bilbao, but I still thought the Guggenheim was beautiful.  I'm a big fan of Frank Gehry and the scale of the Guggenheim is very impressive.  I love how different the building looks from all angles and the evocative feeling of the big swoopy lines.  It's quite magnetic, totally makes you want to reach out and touch it or give it a hug.  The art was fine, my favorite part was the Richard Serra room, "The Matter of Time."  It was just so powerfully unique; art and an experience that deeply affected your sense of perception and balance; very all encompassing.

Look at the tiny people, like ants

Z's favorite creepy spider

Jeff Koons' Puppy, covered in pansies this time of year.  The front entrance of the Guggenheim

Cool Jenny Holzer installation. I like how it is permanently integrated into the museum

Image from the Guggenheim website of the Richard Serra's "The Matter of Time."  One of those pieces that needs to be experienced in person to truly feel it.  You actually walk through all the coils and pieces which tower over you, caving in and out.  It was a relatively quiet day so we were able to really immerse ourselves in this room.

After the Guggenheim, we headed back to San Sebastian for what we expected to be a rather low key night of pintxos sampling.  After all, it was Sunday night and many places were either already closed or closed early.  Also, it was February, so many pintxos bars were closed for the month.  Unfortunately, there were a ton of pintxos bars that I was really looking forward to try, but didn't have the chance. Just an excuse for a return visit to San Sebastian! We went to a couple of places on Pescadaria and Augusto 31, including Tamboril, Bar Martinez and Casa Gandarias.  In general we preferred the hot pintxos that you had to order off the menu over the cold ones at the bar. We drank plenty of Txacoli, the local Basque slightly effervescent white wine, similar to Vinho Verde, before moving on to vino tinto and cocktails later on in the evening.

Mushrooms with lots of garlic at Tamboril, which is known for its champis

The spread at Tamboril

Bar Martinez, from left the first skewer is one of San Sebastian's classic pintxos, an olive, anchovy and peppers. Then some jamon on toast, shrimp and egg, and stuffed zucchini or eggplant pintxos

Warm octopus dish with potatoes, delicious!

Another favorite: warm skewered squid in its ink from Casa Gandarias

In the front, anchovies over red pepper with a little pepper relish and then anchovies with blue cheese in the back, nice and pungent

Foie Gras, so relatively cheap in Spain!

More Casa Gandarias, nice guy

Warm shrimp pintxo

All the pintxos bars were closing and we were ready to call it a night when we started chatting with these local jazz musicians at the bar.  They were quite entertaining and took us to a nice nearby jazz bar (where they will be performing in a few weeks), Altxerri.  We had a great time, listening to great music, drinking lots of vodka coke and lemon juice, and chatting.  Fortunately for me, they also spoke French and English.

Jamming with tamborines because that's what musicians do

At that point, we were definitely ready to call it a night, as it was Sunday night around 2am or so.  However, on our short walk home to our Pension, we started chatting with these Spanish college girls outside of the same bar that we were at the previous night on San Juan street (I believe) and they convinced us to grab a drink with them inside and we got adopted by them and their big group of friends.  I really like that bar (never got the name); they play really fun, happy, peppy Spanish music that is great to dance to and sing-along to (I didn't know the words but everyone else in the bar seemed to).  The bar ended up closing shortly after we got there, so the barman poured our drinks into plastic cups and we walked to another bar / club a few blocks away, Be Bop Bar where we danced the night away, somehow making it back to our Pension thankfully before dawn.  Really random night, filled with meeting lots of new interesting friends, so fun!

Not surprisingly, most of the photos turned out like this.  I swear it's because the bar was dark, not operator error!