We got to Barcelona after the typical groggy bounce through London, all messed up from too little sleep, too many bad movies, and breakfast at dinnertime. We knew our luck was good when there was a Toyota Prius promotion at the airport and we got a free ride to José and Melissa´s in exchange for filling out a survey. Having seen all the sights we needed to last year, we immediately began to eat.

To thank them for letting us move into their tiny apartment, we took José and Melissa to Alkimia, a restaurant we read about in Food and Wine. It made Melissa throw her arm in the air with glee on the Metro when we told her about it.




The review we had read on egullet.com (never trust Food and Wine on its own) said that there were 10 courses for 40 Euros, and so we began counting right away.

1. Small dishes of olives. Nondescript, but free.
2. An apertif of pan con tomate (bread with tomato) in the form of a shot of liquor. We received a shot glass full of tomato juice with some very crunchy bread bits in it, covered with a slice of salami. Though I do not like wet bread, this was delicious.
3. Parmesan flan. Delightfully cheesy.
4. A salad of fried baby artichokes with ham raised on a diet of acorns. We need to raise more things on a diet of acorns in the US. It would be good for everyone. Also, fried baby things can´t be beat.
5. A tuna taco-ish thing with cherries, bacon, and goo of pesto. Perfectly cooked tuna. Cherries surprisingly good with pesto.
6. Now we´re getting into the good stuff. Monkfish with almond cream is never, ever bad. This was made even better by an accompanying tempura-ed zucchini flower and romesco sauce. Romesco is a Catalan sauce made from nyores, a kind of pepper you will never find in the States. Michael Moore should make a movie about the suspicious lack of Romesco at home.
7. Foie, nicely seared, with blanched pears, all bobbing in a broth of cocoa. Of course - chocolate and liver! But it seems an idea whose time has truly come. Of all the things not to try at home...but it worked.
8. On to dessert. First, chocolate...sauce? Syrup? Ganache? Is there an official definition of ganache? Anyhow, it came with spicy ice cream and apricot slush. The Spanish word for apricot is albaricoque. There was a lot of talk about this word.
9. A sort of panna cotta of goat´s milk with pine nuts and berry sorbet. There are no known instances of people not enjoying berry sorbets.
10. Assorted free things: chocolate lollipops, ganache in a cylilnder of burnt sugar, not-very-good but still free raspberry jellies in coconut, and fabulous foam of mandarine orange. The foam reminded us that Ferran Adria had trained the chef at Alkimia, although you can´t go out for a hot dog in Barcelona without being served some foam of something.

Ten courses. Forty Euros. Fantastic.

Next, we would begin hanging out with Melissa´s parents, who have begun to move here.




They are very nice people and bought us some slush on a pleasant Sunday. We also met up with our friend Angela and her sisters for a night of tapas. It has been amazing how quickly we got back into the rhythm of sleeping until noon and going out - even to dinner - until 3. Let´s hope I can stagger in to work by 9 when we get home.

Coming soon: A night at the famous Cal Pep.