Picking Pintxos

Lovely jamon y queso de cabra pintxos

In my previous post, I started to chronicle some of my food adventures in San Sebastian, Spain - the star gastronomic city of the proud Basque country; a bit low on the radar for anything else other than food, this is certainly a to-visit destination for foodies coming to Europe.

There are numerous ways of experiencing Basque cuisine: in restaurants serving up classic Basque food (often with special week-end offers), in other food venues like sagardotegi (Basque cider houses) from which one can enjoy both a nice txuleta (steak) and natural cider or, if price is not an issue, by going to modern gastronomic venues by this and that chef.

Easily the most popular and the most affordable way of enjoying delectable Basque treats, however, is by going for pintxos, the elevated Basque form of the popular tapas culture that evolved from southern Spain. Indeed, it is with pintxos that the Basques have dominated Spanish cuisine and which has earned their fame across the rest of Spain for stylized presentations (not necessarily with "sticks" or pintxos, in Spanish) that elevate their food.

Being that it was my second time in the city, there was no way I was gonna let the opportunity to go for some nice pintxos pass (indeed, I ended up sampling quite a bit). Indeed, I got to be more selective with my choice of places now by surveying the favorites (scouting online reviews, in advance, as well). And need I say that it was a tasty and colorful journey.

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Basque cuisine benefits from the best bounty that the season and the region has to offer. With mountainous terrains that spread up to the vineyards that yield La Rioja (the famous Spanish red) down at Navarra and, of course, the gorgeous and enchanting seaside from which the catch of the day is drawn, this typical combination of mar y montana reflects on the Basque food selection - indeed, as well as in the pintxos culture which (without exaggeration) is an ART FORM.

One typically enjoys pintxos as a pre-meal treat, parallel to the tradition of going for an aperitif in France (or an aperitivo in Italy) - one grabs a drink (typically txakoli, a dry slightly sparkling white wine of the region) and picks up one or maybe two pintxos. Quite recently, however, the modern trend of "making a meal" out of pintxos has emerged but it is still typical to just have one or a couple per bar - one then moves to another one and maybe a third or fourth, to get his fill (to pick up a lot of pintxos as if one is on a buffet line is a faux pas). It makes quite some sense if you think about it as one can then survey various places for their specialties - some pintxos places are famous for their specific items and preparations.

There are typically two types of preparations - pintxos calientes or warm/hot preparations and pintxos frios or cold preparations. The latter (which are often cheaper), one would find displayed gracefully in trays on the bar - though one isn't normally free to just pick these up by themselves (ask the bartender first as they may require reheating first), while the former would be written in menus (typically on the chalkboard) and are only made to-order (e.g. grilled seafood, rice dishes, etc.). As one progresses, one would find that as enticing as the readily displayed ones maybe (yes, it is an ART exercising willpower to not go for more than 1 or 2 given the visual spread), some special delights come in the form of the hot preparations if only one would care to try.

It should also be noted that while the pintxos that one would find in La Parte Vieja (the Old Quarter) of San Sebastian are typically of the more traditional or classical variety (i.e. typical flavor combinations of Basque cooking), some places do take some more modern spins on their pintxos (I have surveyed two of the best: A Fuego Negro and Zeruko) and these are also, as you would see later, worth a try!

Ask any good old local from Donostia (the Basque name for San Sebastian) what is the best pintxos place in town and, more often than not, the answer will be "La Cuchara" (the spoon) - short for La Cuchara de Sant'elmo, a pretty small and classic place in one of the important streets in the old quarter which has standing room only and which only serves pintxos calientes to-order.

I went to the place with a number of colleagues from our scientific event and, after ordering a drink for myself, immediately went for the viera dish (sea scallop) since it was not something I got a lot (not a lot of scallops in the Italy) - it came wrapped in bacon (surf and turf?), nicely caramelized and plated with nice sauces (a cream sauce, an herb oil and a sweet wine reduction). A colleague got the nice marinated anchovies shown in the photo - also plated well (formed into a cylinder) with herb aioli or mayonaisse. Other must try dishes are their goat's cheese and squash risotto (arroz con calabasa y queso de cabra) and the veal cheeks (carillera).

If it wasn't as crowded and we weren't going for more food, I would have gone for more!

La Cuchara de Santelmo

Atari Gastroteka

Atari gastroteka was another find - I remember eating a sit-down meal in the place during my first time although, apparently, they only have pintxos on offer now. Again, ignoring the nice spread of mounted pintxos (including a very delectable ham and goat's cheese preparation!), I went for more hot preparations - a grilled foie gras dish and the braised veal cheek (carillera).

The foie gras came out delectable - served with a balsamic reduction and an apple sauce (foie gras and apples are a typical Basque combination). It was nicely caramelized on the outside while the inside was still slightly rare (to overcook it would be to melt all the duck fat and who would want that? :P) and the apple sauce provided a nice complement. While I've had foie gras in Paris before (in the form of a pate served with onion jam), I easily preferred this one and the less classic combo with apple sauce altogether and the assurance that my foie gras was of quality - low-quality ones are usually turned into canned patés while the high quality ones are left whole and free to cook with.

The veal cheeks were also delectable and, while the portion is not that large, it was actually quite heavy. The veal cheeks were braised for a long-time and was fork-tender, really soft and the sauce reduction was quite flavorful while the potato two-ways provided the needed textural elements in the dish.

Over-all, I was quite satisfied with the dishes but I thought it was about time to veer off the traditional route and go more modern!

My first modern or contemporary pintxos place of choice was A Fuego Negro - Michelin-starred and with quite a rave in online reviews. They offer a lot of things from the bar, actually, among which are vasos (really pintxos preparations served in glasses), pintxos and some pretty big salads - all with quite modern and unconventional spins on to them.

I asked the nice bartenders what was special and they recommended, among others, a vaso - the one with mussels (mejillones) so I ordered that and got a glass of txakoli to go with it. A few minutes later, it was served up an I got a glass with tomato sauce at the bottom, some white sauce on top and something crispy on top. The girl told me to reach down with the spoon and not to mix it (indeed, it would ruin the texture layers of the dish) and I reached and took a spoonful. I got a nicely cooked still juicy mussel with a hit of the sweet tomato sauce and then the layer of what is actually bechamel foam with pork cracklings on top and the combo was just sooo good! It was easily one of my favorite pintxos of the trip! The bechamel foam was a somewhat modern touch and the cracklings provided nice texture to the dish - over-all, great combo.

My second dish, a small rabbit with garlic dish was less spectacular - having cooked and eaten rabbit before, I was waiting for something spectacular or else some new flavors to come out but I wasn't as wow-ed as in the first dish. The rabbit was nicely cooked and the vegetables were seasoned well (also had garlic flavors) but the only real thing of interest was the rabbit-shaped "edible cloth" which provided some sweetness to the dish.

A second time, I went with some colleagues for another "pintxos crawl" which found us on this place - I went for a glass of cava (a sparkling wine from Catalonia, something like a "Spanish champagne") and couldn't decide on whether to get another savory pintxo or to venture into one of their two sweet ones. Since I had quite a bit of savory already, I decided to go for the "Regalize" - a sweet pintxo which ended up as something like a deconstructed chocolate cake presented as a "plant in a pot of soil". The soil was chocolate crumbs which pop in the mouth with sweet flavor, the green plant was a pistachio cookie and the bottom layer was some chocolate ice cream. The over-all combination was quite good though I find that deconstructed desserts either have to be really WOW or you just end up feeling like you got a small bite-sized sweet when you could have gotten more.

Over-all, nice place - somewhere I would want to return to (if I find my way back to the city again) if only to try their other combos - like the "frozen mole sauce" with pork.

A Fuego Negro

Bar Zeruko

Another place which serves up modern updated pintxos is Zeruko - with quite a number of rave reviews online but somehow less frequented by locals (we found the place quite free on a Friday evening). Doesn't say anything about the quality (not to mention, the creativity) of their pintxos, however, as the stuff in the bar were truly scrumptious.

Probably one of my top two pintxos of the trip was the famous "La Hoguera" of Zeruko - a preparation presented on a smoking hot mini-grill. You get a slice of raw cod (which you grill/smoke off yourself; a bit on each side), a toast with green mayo and onion jam (perfect combination with the fish) and a "salad essence" after. The nicely smoked fish (smokiness really comes through) with the toast assembly (you put them together and eat!) is just layer after layer of nice flavors and textures - just scrumptious! The "salad essence" was also a refreshing touch - really palette cleansing and tastes largely of cucumber.


The other pintxos were quite nice as well: I especially enjoyed the pistachio-coated morcilla (blood sausage) with foie served up with jam - the morcilla is rich tasting and goes well with the sweet jam and the pistachio crumb gives a nice texture to the dish (I also had my eye on the morcilla-egg combo at the bar but I had to move on to other dishes). The fried artichoke was a treat and had to be "reheated" in the kitchen only to come back stuffed with foie gras and with a nice peanut crunch and sweet glaze to go with it. The foie gras paté cylinder with a metallic cheese crust was also great - the cheese might be Idiazabal (that famous Spanish quezo of the region) and the fact that foie gras just keeps popping up in my choices is just great.


The bacalao with creamy filling on toast was also nice (the Basques really know how to work this fish) but the sea urchin pintxo (which I was sort of anticipating) was not as good as I found the cream mixture overwhelming and I didn't get much of the sea urchin flavor.


I could go on eating in that place, tbh - I saw lovely hongos (wild mushrooms) encased with an egg yolk in a jelly (seems intriguing) as well as a sweet flan cone (I'm not giving up on dessert pintxos!) as well as basic ones which simply pique my tastebuds but, alas, we had to go and I had enough already. Without question, though, Zeruko will be a mandatory stop should I come to visit the city again.

Beyond these named ones, however, almost every other pintxos place in San Sebastian have more than one dishes that would sing to one's palate - pintxos are serious business in this city and that it has evolved as an ART FORM is but a reality.

I enjoyed nice arroz con chipirones (rice with squid) in Borda Berri, a nice bar somewhere along La Parte Vieja (just walk around and try whichever strikes your fancy really) as well as went on a pintxos-picking frenzy of pintxos frios at Casa Alcalde (right in front of the Iglesia de San Esteban) - a faux pas really but I had to get all that I wanted in one plate to get one bill (for reimbursement).

Looking back at my previous trip, I remember getting to try classic pintxos like shrimps and cheese preparations but also more exotic things like marinated fish eggs (yum!) and a nice confit of duck leg (a mini-dish in itself) though, certainly, I have surpassed myself and go to try more the second time around!

Compiling all of these stuff from this previous trip, my mouth just waters ever so slightly at the sheer memory of going for pintxos in this nice city - certainly a segment of Basque culture that will always remain interesting and that would want me going for more.

My only hope is that my own food and travel journey will lead me back to San Sebastian, if only to go for more pintxos!

On egin!  (Buen provecho!)