Etxebarri ....Best Meal of My Life
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:13 pm
While in Spain I had the pleasure of going to Etxebarri. I don't know if any of you have heard of this place, but it is one of a kind. With all the fancy, modern, cutting edge, "molecular" cooking in northern Spain,you can drive yourself crazy trying to decide which 3 star to eat something very tiny cooked with nitrogen, with foam on top of (and pay an arm and a leg). I decided to do something different. If any of you saw Anthony Bourdain's show on Spain, you saw this place. It's the one that grills everything. I believe that is why the guy has no stars at all from Michelein. No diversity of tecnique. But if you do something so very well, you don't need to. The point of this guy is purity , of ingredient, of tecnique, of setting, of pretty much everything.
The guy started as a forrester, then put up a little grill in the square on weekends to cook steaks for people , and has evolved into one of the "destination" restaurants in Europe. He makes his own charcoal from several kinds of wood. Built his own oxygen controled environment ovens to produce it. Buit his own grilling system. His own racking and pans to cook with. He is truely amazing.
I read about this palce on a couple of sites...... Chez Pim/ Etxebarri or Chuck Eats/ Etxebarri. The photos at these sites will make mine pale in comparrison, so it you are interested, please take a look.
It is in the middle of nowhere, and I mean nowhere, between San Sebastian and Bilbao, fairly close to Durango. Easily the most beautiful setting I've ever had a meal in.
He has an Aussie working for him that used to work for one of the 3 stars in San Sebastian, his name is Lennox. When we arrived for our !:00PM reservation , he greeted us with surprise. "you're here?, people drive around up here for hours looking for us". He sat down with us for 15-20 minutes and gave us the lay of the land. He was very interested that we sought him out. Went through what they do, why they do it , and so forth. Talked about what we liked , didn't like, and how much of it we wanted. We settled on a tasting menu, even though the straight up menu was tempting....glad we did. After our discussion, Lennox said this was the point he usually brought up wine, but there was no need ...he knew the perfect one for this meal....Remelluri (white), Aparantly they make several average reds, but I think they only make one white. I later searched for this wine the rest of the time I traveled and found only one bottle. I'm hoarding it until I find more. If anybody knows of it PLEASE let me know...I've got the guys at Martin's working on it. Here goes.......
1 Smoked cream of zucchini soup
2 House made chorizo
3 House made Smoked butter (an actual course)
4 Spider crab
5 Grilled oyster
6 Grilled giant shrimp
7 Grilled baby octopus
8 Grilled sea cucumber
9 Grilled Halibut
10 Smoked mushrooms and eggplant
11 Chuleta...,(steak)
12 Smoked sheeps milk ice cream with fresh berries
13 Espresso with little "muffins"
I'm getting way to carried away here, but I've got to tell you about a couple of these courses. The butter was literally the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. Smoky and just the right consistency. I assume he smokes the milk before he makes the butter. Served on a piece of slate with dehidrated slightly salty bread flakes....take a little butter on a fork and tap it around on the flakes. THE BEST THING EVER.
They were trying to tell us how to eat the shrimp. To suck the head. Being from LA, we didn't need to be told. They were impressed. Best shrimp I've ever had...
Halibut was perfectly cooked..light smoke, and expertly presented at the table, deboned masterfully.
The ice cream was one of the most interesting flavors . We were joking about if the ice cream comes out smoked, I'll kiss your ass, and damned if it didn't. Nothing I've ever had comes close.... Angelo Brocato can't touch that.
The service was as good as any I've had in my life...all female waitstaff, perfect timing, no lags or hurries.......5 1'2 hours. We finished off with Monte Cristo Edmundos and another espresso on the raised patio looking out over the mountains, The food portion of this was only 90 euros per person, and the wine only 40 a bottle....a truely "best" meal of my life......
The guy started as a forrester, then put up a little grill in the square on weekends to cook steaks for people , and has evolved into one of the "destination" restaurants in Europe. He makes his own charcoal from several kinds of wood. Built his own oxygen controled environment ovens to produce it. Buit his own grilling system. His own racking and pans to cook with. He is truely amazing.
I read about this palce on a couple of sites...... Chez Pim/ Etxebarri or Chuck Eats/ Etxebarri. The photos at these sites will make mine pale in comparrison, so it you are interested, please take a look.
It is in the middle of nowhere, and I mean nowhere, between San Sebastian and Bilbao, fairly close to Durango. Easily the most beautiful setting I've ever had a meal in.
He has an Aussie working for him that used to work for one of the 3 stars in San Sebastian, his name is Lennox. When we arrived for our !:00PM reservation , he greeted us with surprise. "you're here?, people drive around up here for hours looking for us". He sat down with us for 15-20 minutes and gave us the lay of the land. He was very interested that we sought him out. Went through what they do, why they do it , and so forth. Talked about what we liked , didn't like, and how much of it we wanted. We settled on a tasting menu, even though the straight up menu was tempting....glad we did. After our discussion, Lennox said this was the point he usually brought up wine, but there was no need ...he knew the perfect one for this meal....Remelluri (white), Aparantly they make several average reds, but I think they only make one white. I later searched for this wine the rest of the time I traveled and found only one bottle. I'm hoarding it until I find more. If anybody knows of it PLEASE let me know...I've got the guys at Martin's working on it. Here goes.......
1 Smoked cream of zucchini soup
2 House made chorizo
3 House made Smoked butter (an actual course)
4 Spider crab
5 Grilled oyster
6 Grilled giant shrimp
7 Grilled baby octopus
8 Grilled sea cucumber
9 Grilled Halibut
10 Smoked mushrooms and eggplant
11 Chuleta...,(steak)
12 Smoked sheeps milk ice cream with fresh berries
13 Espresso with little "muffins"
I'm getting way to carried away here, but I've got to tell you about a couple of these courses. The butter was literally the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. Smoky and just the right consistency. I assume he smokes the milk before he makes the butter. Served on a piece of slate with dehidrated slightly salty bread flakes....take a little butter on a fork and tap it around on the flakes. THE BEST THING EVER.
They were trying to tell us how to eat the shrimp. To suck the head. Being from LA, we didn't need to be told. They were impressed. Best shrimp I've ever had...
Halibut was perfectly cooked..light smoke, and expertly presented at the table, deboned masterfully.
The ice cream was one of the most interesting flavors . We were joking about if the ice cream comes out smoked, I'll kiss your ass, and damned if it didn't. Nothing I've ever had comes close.... Angelo Brocato can't touch that.
The service was as good as any I've had in my life...all female waitstaff, perfect timing, no lags or hurries.......5 1'2 hours. We finished off with Monte Cristo Edmundos and another espresso on the raised patio looking out over the mountains, The food portion of this was only 90 euros per person, and the wine only 40 a bottle....a truely "best" meal of my life......