Petersontravels

We arrived in San Sebastian two days ago, and it will get it’s own blog post, but today we visited Restaurante Arzak, a 3 Michelin Star restaurant that is listed in the Top 50 Restaurants in the world (currently #31).  Here is the view from the bus stop.  I love taking the public bus to a 3 star restaurant!

This is the 3rd 3 Michelin Star restaurant we have been to (the first two being Arpege in Paris (#8 in the world…truly amazing), and Auberge de I’l in Alsace).  We chose the tasting menu, and picked out a half bottle of white and a full bottle of red to pair with the menu.  The interior of this place is really gorgeous.

The company is really gorgeous as well!

Our waiter for the afternoon was Cesar, who was exceptional.  He laughed at all of my bad jokes, spoke really good English, and explained every course with exceptional detail. 

The meal starts with 5 Amuse Buches (all of them were truly exceptional).  First is the Citrus and Mussel Sphere.

Then the Urban Seafood “Talo” (I have no idea what the Talo means, it was good…that’s enough for me!)

Then the Fortunate Fish and Cured Yolk (not quite sure how fortunate that fish was to be honest….he can’t be too happy to be in that little morsel of yummyness).

Then the Maseca Corn….scrumptious little corn tortilla!

Finally the “Chasing Karramarros”.  Again, lost in translation (it was basically crab pate’ on a ginger cookie, but very tasty regardless)!  I love the little crab net it was served in.

Then we were on to the real courses.  First up was “Fish of the Day Marinated with Patxaran and Purple Corn”.  Good thing we had bread so we could get every last molecule off the plate!

Then the Scarlet Prawns with Krill (you can barley see the lovely prawns under the cover of the crunchy krill….but it was devine (and deveined!).  Seriously, we have seen a lot of shrimp/prawns in Portugal and Spain that are not deveined!  Ok, back to the amazing meal.

Then the egg with Corn and Tomato Candy (it actually tasted like candy!)

We then switched to red wine (Tinto).  This was an amazing Temparnillo….we have a new found respect for this varietal, and will be buying a lot of it in the near future.

Check out this stemware!  It’s like a damn fishbowl!  Love it!

The next course was Grouper (Kim) and Monkfish (Chris).  The Monkfish won this one hands down.  The skin from the Monkfish….meh.  Can’t win them all!

 

Then the “meat” course, Roasted Duck.  Each one of the little purple pieces was made of potato, and had it’s own meaning (they actually called it Symbolic Duck).  I honestly can’t remember the meanings, but waiter emeritus Cesar gave me his email address, so maybe I can find out.  The duck breast was cooked perfectly…..such a great match with the Temparnillo!

Then we are on to dessert…..Seasonal Frost (Guava Frost with Lemon Sorbet and Acai) for Kim, and Mezcal Sweet (Mezcal Frost and Snow with Almond Praline and fluffy Raspberries….fluffy??) for Chris.  I think Kim won this one.

Second desserts (everybody knows in Michelin Star restaurants you get multiple desserts) were Square Moon (Lunar chocolate cube (lunar?) with a fluid core of mint, neroli and kiwi….it also came with some raspberry sorbet?) for Kim and Cacao Debris (Smoked chocolate, vanilla ashes and cacao shavings) for Chris.  The fluid core of mint on the Square Moon was amazing.  They were both excellent regardless,but I could eat that mint for a few hours.

The 3rd dessert was some homemade chocolates that were all pretty damn good….but then we had already drunk 1.5 bottles of wine, so at this point cat food might have tasted good!  I kid, these were excellent finishes to the meal.

Before we walked out, Cesar rounded up the world famous Chef Jaun Mari Arzak and introduced us.  He had heard we were there from California, and I think we were the only Americans in the place, so he wanted to say hello.  Very gracious, and I STUPIDLY DIDN’T GET A PHOTO WITH HIM!!!  Regardless, it was very nice to meet him.  Thanks Cesar!!  You rock!

Just a few observations we have had since being here for the last month.

The Spanish really like the following music:  George Michael, Madonna, Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry be Happy”, John Lennon, Supertramp (a LOT of Supertramp!), the music from Flashdance, The Police, ACDC, The Scorpions (I think I’ve heard “Still Loving You” at least four times) and REM.   At one point we heard on the radio that Stevie Nicks had died, so we heard about 6 of her songs, until they realized it was a hoax, and moved on to “Don’t Worry be Happy”.

The Spanish do not drive in the fast lane unless they are passing.  They aggressively move back into the slow lane after they pass you, even if they KNOW they will have to move over again in 10 seconds.  I’ve had to break several times as they are barely past my front bumper when they pull in front of me.  The faster drivers are going 100+ MPH, and are ususally driving a BMW or an Audi, so I guess they can afford the tickets.

Spain loves traffic circles!  Wow….they are everywhere!

Spain loves their road signs.  When you are travelling somewhere, you never need to wait long to know how far to your destination.  In many areas they post a distance sign EVERY kilometer!  They have signs showing a tunnel before the tunnel, and then ANOTHER sign showing that you have left the tunnel.  Is that really necessary??  Is somebody out there wondering where the tunnel went and needs a sign to appease them?  They even have a sign that tells you how long the tunnel is in meters.  I think there must be a lot of tunnel phobia here.

There have been some tunnels no more than 50 meters long (I know how long, there was a sign) that have a sign for headlights before the tunnel, and a sign reminding you to turn off your headlights upon exiting….and then there is another tunnel about 300 meters later!  Sign creation and installation must be how they keep their welfare recipients employed.

Everybody in Spain has been super friendly.  It doesn’t matter where we have been, big city or small or the middle of nowhere….they have been spectacular!

Any sort of tip is vastly appreciated.  A tip of more than a few euros often has them wondering if something is wrong with you.  We met two older ladies at dinner the other night who gave us a ton of tips on restaurants in the area, so I picked up their dinner tab (it was not much).  The staff in the restaurant kept asking me “what do you want to do?  Why?  Where are you from?”.  They just could not comprehend this gesture.

There are feral cats everywhere, and everybody is taking care of them.  Whenever we see the cats, we see huge tubs of food and even some home made shelters.

Spain still has fuel attendants to pump your gas.  I don’t know if I’m parking on the wrong side of the island or what, but I always have somebody running out to pump the gas for me.  Spain does NOT have window cleaners at their gas stations.  They sometimes have a scrubbing brush.

I think 90% of the people here smoke.  Most of these are chain smokers.  We usually like to sit outside at restaurants, but it’s nearly impossible to do so here if you want to breathe.

Nearly all of the Airbnb’s we have stayed in have washing machines, which are located in the kitchen.  Nobody here has a dryer, and they line dry everything.  We have seen so many clothes on a line….sometimes out in the rain.  One place we stayed had the roughest towels (due to line drying) I have ever experienced.  It was like drying off with 120 grit sandpaper, or what I can assume it would be like to have a cat lick you dry.

Did I mention they like to eat late, and stay up late?  A lot of the restaurants don’t even open until 9:00 PM.  Our friends Tom and Nancy would love it!  If you’ve eaten at their place you know what I’m talking about.  We are in San Sebastian and for the last two nights we have heard drunken men singing in the street at 4:00 AM.  I’m guessing they just left the restaurant!