simon says french food blog

EYE FOOD

BROOKLYN

By Joe Ray

They could serve Spam in the can here and I’d still come back. With a view this good, it really doesn’t matter what you eat. At Alma, it’s all about the view of southern Manhattan from the roof.

I joined friends of mine here - they were nibbling away on sturdy Mexican food - and accidentally figured out a peculiar system that allows you to bypass the restaurant’s Mexican-themed drink offerings, get a tasty microbrew at the b61 bar downstairs (try the Sixpoint Ale), then walk it topside and enjoy it with your guacamole and fish tacos.

“It’s almost winter!” you cry?

No worries - the roof deck is still open on the weekend and imagine it to be just as blissful watching an autumn sunset or when the snow flies.

Alma - MAP
187 Columbia Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
+1.718.643.5400

www.almarestaurant.com

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

EGGING FOR MORE

RED HOOK, BROOKLYN

By Joe Ray

Now that I’m back home and typing up a bushel of NYC blogs, the one place I really want to go back to is Brooklyn’s Fort Defiance. Not only are the drinks top notch, chef Sam Filloramo wowed me while, thanks to some sort of new restaurant timing/shipping glitches, he was still working from a half-empty* kitchen.

His deviled eggs were so good, I went home and told my mom about them and if that wasn’t enough to get me to want to go back, the ever-changing menu they now post on their Web site does: rabbit and chorizo hash, oysters Rockefeller, pan-fried catfish … my word. Apparently, they even do breakfast and all I can do is imagine the possibilities.

I’m interested to see how the combination of a serious drinks bar combined with chef who’s making his mark pans out. It can only be good.

Fort Defiance - MAP

365 Van Brunt St

Brooklyn, NY

+1 347-453-6672

www.fortdefiancebrooklyn.com

*Apparently, in mid-September, after the equipment arrived, a health inspector stopped in to check the kitchen and found gas equipment without gas service - like a car with an empty gas tank - and decided the restaurant would be better off closed for the week until they got the pipes hooked up… go figure.

Click here to see my Boston Globe Travel story, “Small Wonders” - featuring an interview with Fort Defiance owner and drinks expert St. John Frizell.

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT.

The Food Leprechaun strikes again.

We found SoHo’s 10-seat Snack by walking in front of it - all three paces of the facade’s width. The name is odd for a sit-down Greek restaurant, but it’s a perfect lunch spot: the hummus is deep-flavored, brightened by lemon and there’s a fish roe spread that’s pure sea-salty goodness.

Two doors down, there’s an even tinier establishment – Porto Rico Importing – a four-seat coffee shop with three beautiful ladies holding court on a bench out front. We sit with them, sip an espresso and watch the world go by.

Snack - MAP
105 Thompson St, NYC
+1 (212) 925-1040

Porto Rico Importing
107 Thompson St. NYC

THE NEW YORK CITY BURGER ATTACK – PART II

 

By Joe Ray

Our gang watched late-summer jazz in Madison Square Park, but eyes rolled when we saw the line at the Shake Shack. It snaked hundreds of feet from the order window out through the park gates.

“What about the secret burger place?” said Maria.

We all stared and she smiled and dragged her toe in the dirt like she might not share her secret. It was rather sexy.

We got her to spill the beans and six of us bolted uptown by bike and subway to the … Parker Meridien. A burger joint in one of the city’s fanciest hotels? Hard to figure.

The lobby was everything you’d expect: high ceilings, artwork and fancy bars and restaurants … but it smelled like burgers.

Sure enough. A David Lynch-esque floor-to-ceiling curtain juts out into the lobby concealing the secret space. Approach and you’ll notice a skinny corridor with a neon-sign hamburger and a right-pointing arrow at the end.

Inside, it’s night and day; the space looks like a cross between Arnold’s Drive-In from “Happy Days” and my fraternity house basement. The burgers are great -you get to choose the cooking temperature and usually, you can elbow your way to a just-opened table right when they call your order number.

A good burger joint in one of the city’s fanciest hotels. Go figure.

Count on around $15-20.            

Burger Joint – MAP
119 W 56th St
New York, NY
+1 212-708-7414

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-Trotting.

KILL SOUP DUMPLING!!!

NEW YORK CITY

By Joe Ray

Years ago, when I cooked at the Left Coast’s Betelnut, a hidden army of wizened Chinese men would come in to roll dumplings in the basement. These quiet, artistic men were lost in their craft, turning dough into flat discs that, with a twist of the fingers, would encase whatever filling they put inside them: crustaceans, meat, vegetables, love.

They would make what seemed like thousands at a time and, unlike the other cooks in the kitchen, once that task was done, so were they.

Lucky bastards.

My first visit to Joe’s Shanghai was part of a get-to-know-you weekend with a former sweetie’s parents a decade ago. Then as now, there’s a reason the grease-splattered walls are festooned with pictures of mayors and glitterati with their arms swung around the owners: Joe’s dumplings are the bomb.

Instead of searing something (like a steak) and hoping all the tasty juices stay inside, here, the pork and crab goodness is held neatly inside the dumpling.

Skewer one with a chopstick and sip the juice that fills the spoon, or take a bite and blush as it runs down your chin.

Shudder with happiness as you swallow. 

Joe’s Shanghai - count on about $10-15

http://www.joeshanghairestaurants.com/ - while on their site, do not miss the “Kill Soup Dumpling” video.

Three Locations – I went to Chinatown - MAP

9 Pell Street
New York, New York 10013
+1-212-233-8888

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

LOWELL THOMAS TRAVEL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

 

PARIS

By Joe Ray

Holy cow.

I won the Society of American Travel Writers’ “Grand Award” – The Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year.

“At least you did something,” quipped my Republican-leaning father referring to a certain recent Nobel Peace Prize winner.

I took it as a compliment.

In any case, it’s fantastic news and a huge honor. There is an incredible list of winners that reads like a Who’s Who of travel writing – including several for the Boston Globe’s Travel section. There’s also a video of the awards that includes a photo of me in a cheche and another where I’m slurping an oyster with my buddy Ethan - start at around 17:40.

Here are links to the stories in my entry – most with a serious food bent – broken down by where they were published.

BOSTON GLOBE - TRAVEL

Heart of The Hills - Valparaiso

Sampling the Motherland – Sicily

Loving Lisbon

Desert Rules – The Algerian Sahara

Some Tips to Help Make Your Dollars Stretch in Europe

CENTURION & PLATIUM MAGAZINES – Asia & Australia Editions

The Road goes Ever On – Patagonia’s Route 40

The Centurion Menu – Santi Santamaria & Carme Ruscalleda

THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION - TRAVEL

In Lyon, old food styles and new exist happily side by side - Photo gallery

Finally, my ‘simulcasted’ blogging trio rounded out my entry.

Eating The Motherland - My Food Writing & Photography blog

The Boston Globe’s Travel Blog, Globe-trotting

…and, of course, right here with Francois Simon on Simon Says!

 

More to come! Stay tuned…

Photo courtesy Joel Scheitler in Luxembourg.

DID SOMEBODY SAY NEW YORK?

 By Joe Ray

NEW YORK CITY

Time to toot our own horns!

Last Friday, Simon Says was mentioned in the New York Times 'Diner's Journal' section - our third NYT mention in less than a year! - read it here.

Next, my NYC food and drink centric story and photo set - "Small Wonders" - ran Sunday in The Boston Globe's Travel section.

A blurb...

Across the river, I walk into Fort Defiance, a new bar that’s a subway, bus, and world away from Manhattan in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood .

WHAM, WHAM, WHAM!!! Behind the bar, St. John Frizell, the owner, clubs a cloth bag of ice with a large wooden mallet to make a drink called the prescription julep, an 1857 recipe that blends cognac and rye whiskey, which are poured into a metal shaker cup and topped with a sprig of mint and a cherry. If it sounds a bit froufrou - like there should be a little umbrella shading the ice - instead, it looks perfect, almost serious, like something to pay attention to while you drink it.

Read the whole story here.

NEW FORMS OF PIE SLINGING

By Joe Ray

NEW YORK CITY

Alystyre had been wearing her brand new, straight-from-Barcelona pink espadrilles for about an hour when the waiter launched a pizza onto them.

You’d think it would happen in slow motion: the pizza wobbling back and forth in the waiter’s hand and both of them wide-eyed for the impending disaster. Instead, it was over in a flash with the pie on her shoes.

Spunto’s staff handled it perfectly. The manager whisked Alystyre away, dabbing her duds with a towel soaked in mineral water for a good 20 minutes. In the meantime, they sent a new pitcher of beer over to our table of six.

The pizza, particularly the thin-crusted mushroom version, laced with a judicious splash of truffle oil (something I don’t usually go in for) was the best we had while in the city, easily trumping the Lombardi’s we had on another night.

The bill, which included three pizzas, two pitchers of beer and a Coke had a big “X” through it. Normally, it would cost about $20 per person. Our total: $0.

We left a big tip.

Spunto - MAP
65 Carmine St.
New York
www.spuntothincrust.com
+1 212 242 1200

La Manual Alpargatera Espadrilles - MAP
C/. Avinyó, 7 - 08002 Barcelona
Tel. 93 3010172
www.lamanualalpargatera.com

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

SEEN FROM ABOVE

By Joe Ray

NEW YORK CITY

Across from Buddakan, we seek solace on top of Hotel Gansevoort. Fat chance. Up top, a hundred drunk kids in Prada are dancing their brains out while some dude plays drums on a bucket to accompany some loud music. Fun for another night.

We taxi north, walk through the Hudson’s lobby and get in the elevator. It lets us out on a deck halfway up the side of the building and we find a quiet nook. The city floats so calmly at our feet, it doesn’t matter that we’ve ordered another incredibly expensive and poorly-crafted drink. We’re paying for the view and the calm.

Worth every penny.

Hudson Hotel - MAP
356 West 58th Street
New York, NY 10019, United States
+1 212-554-6000
www.hudsonhotel.com

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

HOT ICE IN RED HOOK

Red Hook, Brooklyn.

By Joe Ray

I was late for an interview at Fort Defiance.

I took the subway. I took a bus. I ran.

I was also hungry.

While I was running, I passed the Brooklyn Ice House and it was about that time when I smelled the barbecue.

The owner was sitting on a bench out front with some friends and I asked if I could get a quick pulled pork sandwich. Truthfully, the three of them looked so relaxed and friendly, I just wanted to sit with them for an hour.

The owner brought me inside - fantastic and saloon-like, a bar and a place to hang out. I watched a father and daughter sitting at in the corner, playing Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots.

My favorite part? At a serious beer bar, I asked what the owner would recommend to go with my sandwich.

“PBR”

Pabst Blue Ribbon.

She could have said something that cost twice as much - and I would have enjoyed it - but for a guy who’s running late and might not have a ton of time to appreciate what he’s eating, she stuck with something good. And cheap. My whole mini-meal cost $7. Woohoo!

Good thing she didn’t ask me to marry her.

Brooklyn Ice House - MAP
318 Van Brunt Street
Brooklyn
+1 (718) 222 1865

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

BURGERS FOR BREAKFAST -- THE NEW YORK CITY BURGER ATTACK PART I

Manhattan,
By Joe Ray

“The Shake Shack?” asked a friend, “That place is a gimmick.”

I brought another friend when I went. We had burgers for breakfast.

That might be a bit of a stretch, but not by too much. We got there at around 11. On a nice day, the Shack has a line that stretches clear across Madison Square Park. I have no idea how long you’d have to wait, but I’ve got no desire to find out.

We ordered two cheeseburgers and two black and whites and, feeling generous, I told my pal I’d pick up the tab.

“Twenty three dollars,” said the woman at the register.

Ai-yeeee!

It’s still worth it as a special treat. Plus, it’s a good burger and I had struck out looking for really good burgers on a recent trip to the Pacific Northwest. It’s not perfect, but there’s a friend, a seat in the park and a happy mouthful.

Shake Shack - MAP
Madison Square Park (not to be confused with the faraway Madison Square Garden)
www.shakeshacknyc.com

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN

By Joe Ray

NEW YORK CITY

Celebrating Eating The Motherland’s 100^th (or so) post, we’re heading to New York!           

Want dining as entertainment? All the show you need is on display at Buddakan. Outed by “Sex and The City” and now (Fortunately? Unfortunately?) full of mini Carrie Bradshaws, I’m not normally a big fan of this form of pomp and glam, yet here I ate it up; it’s impossible to stand at the top of the stairway and not look slack-jawed into the dining pit.

For its part, the food is up to the task, but the food is not why you come. Buddakan is an East Coast cousin to Betelnut – the San Francisco beautiful people restaurant where I once worked as a cook – it’s high end Asian fusion that’s very well thought out like long beans with shrimp and soy and a rather exquisite Peking duck salad served French style with frisée and a poached egg.

There are a few cracks showing. A pricey martini arrives with miraculous speed from the packed bar yet it’s barely cold. I’ll leave more than half of it on the table at the end of the night.

Later, our astute waiter asks about our appetizers.

Me: I really liked the duck.

Him: Yes, the duck salad is quite good.

We both intentionally left out the short ribs.

These are quibbles. We were here for the show and got it in spades – Carrie might have to elbow her way back in, but she won’t be disappointed. Dinner also turned out to be rather reasonably priced for a special treat kind of place – about $50 per person with drinks and a doggy bag full of lunch for the next day.

 

Buddakan - MAP
75 9th Ave, New York, NY‎
(212) 989-6699‎
www.buddakannyc.com

 

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

 

Little Things, Big Neighbors

By Joe Ray

PARIS

Lots of little things going on Chez Ramulaud.

What I love about Paris is that I lived on and off for a year near a place this good and never knew it was there. Then again, I lived even closer to the Bistrot Paul Bert, which got all the little things right and costs the same; Ramulaud is more of a mixed bag.

Walk in and there’s a funny feeling like the place has both been there for a while and that they’ve just moved in because the walls are too white and the lights too bright. Appetizers are good ideas that just miss the mark – a tartare of veal, gambas and avocados has lots of fun texture but wades in mayonnaise. ‘Chips’ of pigs’ feet and ears sound fantastic if you’re into that sort of thing, but this thin, they just taste greasy. Vegetable preparations are well thought-out yet the raw products seem like they’re from the cheap grocery store down the street.

From here on out, however, the problems are erased. Sautéed slices of andouillette atop a salad are crowned with a poached egg. There’s great play between the offal, the mustard-y vinaigrette and hidden lardons and lightly caramelized red onions. Lamb chops are dredged in Parmesan and pink on the inside. A beautiful Fleurie dispatches doubts about Beaujolais.

Dessert sums it up: a chocolate cake drools salted caramel, the underside just slightly (and wonderfully) scorched; my companion starts moaning with pleasure. Meanwhile, I can’t figure out why the top of my otherwise tasty crème brulée isn’t scorched enough. At the next table, someone has ordered a skimpy-looking Paris-Brest, Paul Bert’s incredible signature dessert.

I enjoyed the meal more than it sounds, but can’t think of a better way to remind customers of the better place to eat.

 

Chez Ramulaud - MAP
269 rue Faubourg St Antoine
75011 PARIS
www.chez-ramulaud.com
+33 (0)1 43 72 23 29

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

 

 

 

BLOWING OFF THE ZEPHYR

By Joe Ray

PARIS

I recently moved to a neighborhood where I don’t know where to eat… disconcerting for a food writer.

At the end of a rainy Monday in the center of town, both places I wanted to go for steak frites were closed. I retreated to my neighborhood, dragging my friend behind me and getting to the point where we couldn’t make a decision.

We circled two places, exhausted and not really caring anymore, finally settling on a place that seemed pretty but expensive (Belleville’s Le Zephyr, for the curious).

We sat and picked out our steaks and I did the math; it was going to cost 80 euros for a meal we really didn’t care about.

I looked across the table and said: “Chinese takeout and cheap beer?”

We got up immediately.

Best decision of the week.

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

PASS THE MATÉ

By Joe Ray

PARIS

Le Fumoir is a melting pot for the mid-level hoi-polloi. At any given point, you might bump into the waitress who couldn’t care less, the impeccably-dressed writer who’s actually getting something done, the maître d’ who says ‘I am a snob’ simply in the way he adjusts the blinds, smiling bartenders, tourists who realized they’ve lucked into a good find and a woman who’s got a good 25 years on her lover, both looking happy as clams. (I’ve recently learned that her breed is known as a cougar. Rrrow!)

There are lots of non-client quirks for better and for worse: a Costes-brothers-of-the-1950s style space with big, beautiful lacquered bathrooms, paired with a vaguely Asian menu theme. And maté. Surprisingly good maté, served in a big gourd with a bombilla and a big iron teapot of hot water.

Most places have a clientele you can lump into a group, but here in the middle of town, a stone’s throw from the Louvre’s Cour Carré, it’s what the French would call Le Melting Pot.

It shoudn’t stick.

It sticks.

Pass the maté.

Le Fumoir – MAP www.lefumoir.com 6 Rue de l'Amiral de Coligny Paris +33 (0)1 42 92 00 24‎

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

STARING AWAY FROM THE FRESCO

By Joe Ray

PARIS

I love a good place hidden in plain sight. I’d walked by La Fresque, smack in the center of Les Halles, 100 times before a neighborhood friend proposed dinner there a few years back. I still remember trying and ostrich steak for the first time – a perfect presentation to get you over the hump and make you want to try it again because you like it. I also liked the idea of everyone walking by, oblivious to a good find.

A little while ago, we went back for lunch and a 14-euro menu included a light pumpkin flan with a curry cream sauce and a decent steak. My friend, a stickler for a good chevre chaud salad, wasn’t doing cartwheels, but pronounced herself satisfied.

More than that, I liked sitting under the big awning, protected from the rain and watching the world go by.

La Fresque
100, rue Rambuteau

+33 (0)1 42 33 17 56

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

BROTHERS IN CLAMS

By Joe Ray

ILE DE RE, France

I’d trade a friend in a high place for one who knows where to eat.

Spend a bit of time on this island and you’ll inevitably end up at the Café du Commerce in Ars en Ré. It’s one of the few places open all year, a good place to socialize and renew your love for bric-a-brac, but I don’t remember a thing I’ve eaten there.

Visit a few times, however, and a friend might start bringing you to their favorite places.

Olivier and Moumoune (his ‘Mama’) brought me out to Aux Frères de la Côte which sits on a seawall – la digue – at the end of the road in Ars en Ré. If I’m going to splurge and get a plate full of seafood or a dish of oysters, the edge of the sea is where I want them.

Service is flighty but friendly, wine is chilled in a plastic beach bucket and the fries on the neighboring table look so good, we order a plate for ourselves.

Star of the meal? Tiny, plump clams known as palourdes, served raw in their unopened shell; it’s up to you to liberate them with a knife and their sweet, briny and fresh flavor are worth the trip.

Count on 20-40€.

Aux Frères de la Côte - MAP
Route de La Grange
Ars en Ré
+33 (0)5 46 29 04 54
Warm months only.

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

 

THE RAW AND THE BEAUTIFUL

By Joe Ray

BARCELONA

Take a walk through La Boqueria food market and you can’t help but get the feeling that Barcelona should be a sushi-lover’s paradise, yet I never found proof. I’ve had good Asian at Ly Leap’s Indochine restaurants and Ferran Adria apparently swears by Shunka, but still, no sushi for me.

Then I went to Ken Restaurante – bristling with sushi potential – and nobody ordered sushi.

A plate of tasty noodles came out, adorned with ultrathin feathers of dried, smoked tuna that fluttered in the heat, and there were tasty (though heavy) shrimp and veg tempuras, but nothing to write home about.

Ken came out to say hello to the family I was with and perhaps he saw the sadness in my eyes, because after that the raw and the beautiful started appearing.

A set of breaded cherry tomatoes appeared which were cored and gently stuffed with salmon eggs then flash fried and served with a delicious, mayonnaise-y secret sauce. A bite is sweet and salty, crisp and bursting. Pop a few of these and down them with a glass of Cava at the beginning of a date and your sweetie will be putty in your hands for the rest of the evening.

The dessert menu came and I panicked. I looked frantically around the table for support and found a taker in the patriarch. I don’t think he was hungry, it was probably just foodie pity. I didn’t care.

“Sushi plate please!” I said to a perplexed waitress.

Know that sound Homer Simpson makes while drooling over a bowl of chili? Nnnghhhh!!! That was me.

Each piece had its own, distinct flavor and firm texture, including a tuna belly reminiscent of the other night at Inopia.

Sushi in Barcelona? I knew I’d find it.

Ken Restaurante MAP
C/ Benet Mateu 53

Get Directions

+34 932 032 044

 

 Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

 

SPUDS AND ROCKS - BRAVAS PART II

 

By Joe Ray

BARCELONA

Before revisiting this classic, I check directions and find an online guide to Barna that says I might be the only tourist in the place.

Fat chance. Two ladies in the back are flipping through a Time Out guide and above the bar, there’s a framed, two-page spread from the Wall Street Journal about Bar Tomas’ raison d’être: “Splendid Spuds: Spain’s Obsession with Patatas Bravas.”

No matter. For spuds this good, I’m willing to share.

Just remember the Two B’s: Bravas and Beer. Like seafood in Omaha, most of the rest of the offerings (save Coke and Fanta in glass bottles) can be ignored.

The spuds are downy on the inside, crisp on the outside and partially submerged under a blob of aioli from heaven and served by a guy whose voice sounds like a yard of rocks in a cement mixer.

Perfect.

Bar Tomás – MAP
C/ Major De Sarrià 49
08017 Barcelona
932 031 077

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

WILL RIDE FOR BRAVAS

By Joe Ray

BARCELONA – While the Tour de France approached Barcelona today, I took a different sort of bike ride – The Tour Gastronomico.

The tour was hosted by a food group called Cassaques – a band of guys who get together, blow loads of money on incredible food, jump around in circles and do a call and answer that goes: “Festiiii….” “….valll!!!!!” Apparently, they once went to El Bulli together dressed as a bunch of toreadors.

Umm… ¡Olé!

Today’s buckets of rain ride stopped at a host of Barcelona foodie hotspots; most worth noting was a sneak peek at chef Carles Abellan’s new digs – the appropriately-named Velódromo – which is supposed to officially open today.

Chef should make a lot of money here as it’s well decked out and the papas bravas – these shaped like fat French fries with a tasty, sweet aioli and an addictive saltiness – are very tasty. I’m guessing a high turnover of beautiful people.

Other Tour highlights included bacalao bunyoles at Fonda Gaig – which is saying a lot, as I’m still on the fence about bacalao, but not about these.

Favorite part of the day? Hoisting Joanito Bayen of Pinotxo at La Boqueria on our shoulders. The guy’s in his mid seventies and should UNESCO classified.
…
Two separate BCN notes I discovered today on a run – restaurant Xemei in Poble Sec bumped out into an adjoining bar-like space where they’re specializing in drinks and tapas while still offering a full menu.

Further up, at the top of Montjuic – the city’s monster green space and home of the ‘92 summer Olympics - I found La Caseta del Migdia, a world away from the city and a great spot to grab a drink or enjoy cheap – 10 euro – barbecue. I’m heading back this weekend to have a drink and watch the world go by.

Velódromo - MAP
Muntaner 213
+34 93 430 6022

La Caseta del Migdia - MAP
Passeig del Migdia
+34 617 956 572
NOTE: open Thursday through Sunday – call ahead for hours

Fonda Gaig - MAP
C/ Còrsega 200
934 532 020
www.fondagaig.com

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.