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36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel gerrydawesspain.com

"My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life. . .” - - Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019; Chef-partner of Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, New York 2019

11/22/2010

San Sebastian Gastronomika Opening Reception 11-21-2010


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All photographs copyright 2010 by Gerry Dawes.

10/18/2010

Iberia Airlines Adds New U.S. - Spain Routes


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Madrid's Terminal IV
 
Press release from Iberia Airlines:

The United States will be the principal focus of Iberia's long-haul growth strategy in 2011, as it launches two new routes, one between Los Angeles and Madrid, and another between Miami and Barcelona. 

Starting in March 28th, the Spanish company will operate three non-stop flights weekly from Los Angeles–on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays–with an additional Thursday flight in July-September. 

 Iberia expects to carry some 68,000 passengers on the Los Angeles route in the first year of operation. The flights will depart Los Angeles at 17:55 h. and arrive in Madrid at 14:15 h. the following day. In Madrid passengers can continue to another 36 destinations in Spain, 38 in Europe, 10 in Africa and one in the Middle East (Tel Aviv). The return flight will depart the Spanish capital at 12:35 h. and arrive in Los Angeles at 16:15 h.

 The new Miami-Barcelona service begins next March 29th, with flights on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, departing Miami at 18:45 h. and arriving in Barcelona at 10:35 h. the following day. The return flight will leave at 13:30 h. to reach Miami at 17:10 h. From Barcelona, passengers from Miami can continue to another 16 destinations in Spain and 27 in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, all operated by Vueling, in which Iberia holds a 45% share. 

These flights to Barcelona are in addition to Iberia's daily Miami-Madrid flights, and brings the total to 10 weekly flights connecting Miami with Spain and, thanks to the numerous connections available in Madrid and Barcelona, with many destinations in the rest of Spain, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In the first year of operation, Iberia expects to transport some 64,000 passengers between Miami and Barcelona.


Barcelona airport (BCN)

The aircraft used on the routes will be 254-seat Airbus A-340/300s, with a 36-seat Business Plus section, recently redesigned, with 2.20 meters of space for each passenger and seats that unfold into flat beds. 

With these two new routes, the United States is consolidated as Iberia's most important long-haul market. In 2011 Iberia will offer a total of 1,164,000 seats between the United States and Spain, representing a 13% increase from 2010. 

There will be seat offer increases in Chicago and Boston: larger aircraft (Airbus A-340/600s with 342 seats) will be used in the Chicago-Madrid route and more frequencies will be added to the Boston-Madrid route – six from May to October next year.   Iberia will also operate three more weekly flights from New York to Madrid in July and August 2011, up to 17 flights a week during the summer time.  

These new routes and the increase of seat offer in New York, Chicago and Boston are part of the "joint business agreement" launched on October 1st between Iberia, American Airlines, and British Airways for routes over the North Atlantic, which increase the travel options available to clients of all three airlines, with more frequencies and more destinations, as well as better connections across all three networks. Thanks to this agreement, Iberia has added its code to an increased number of American Airlines flights from Iberia gateways in U.S. to other U.S. cities.

10/15/2010

Insider’s Taste of Northern Spain Gastronomic Tour of Bilbao - San Sebastián - Navarra - Barcelona Nov. 27 - Dec. 5, 2010


*  *  *  *  *


Tour Organized and Led by
Writer-Photographer & Spain Expert

Gerry Dawes
 
Premio Nacional de Gastronómía 2003
  
Food Arts Silver Spoon Award
(Award profile written by José Andrés - Dec. 2009


Gerry Dawes has been traveling the Food and Wine Roads of Spain for more than 40 years and is personally acquainted with hundreds of restaurateurs, chefs, winemakers and food-and-wine personalities.  We will eat great food, meet a slew of great Basque and Catalan chefs and food personalities, taste wines with a winemaker or two, take lots of great photographs and develop a camaraderie on this trip that will ripen in recounting into vintage nostalgia.




Ferran Adrià and Gerry Dawes at Bar Basque,  NYC, Oct. 13, 2010. 
Photograph by John Sconzo©2010.

Tour accompanied by Dr. John Sconzo,
food aficionado & photographer extraordinarío.


Author & photographer of
Doc Sconz - The Blog: Musing on Food and Life
 (All photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes 2010.)

 Prices quoted are without airfare from the U.S. to Bilbao and return from Barcelona and include five and four star hotels, all designated restaurant meals with wines selected by Gerry Dawes and bus transportation within Spain.  Pricing depends on how many travelers will be joining the tour.

2 travelers:  $7,000.00
4 travelers:  $5,000.00
6-8 travelers:   $4,500.00
10-16 travelers:  $4,000.00


Itinerary: 


Day 00 USA-Madrid-Bilbao Evening Flight
 
Evening departure from the U.S. with each guest arranging own their flights.
Day 01 Saturday, Nov 27 Arrive Madrid, transfer to flight to Bilbao

Gerry Dawes will meet guests at the Bilbao airport.  We will take a short trip into Bilbao and see the Guggenheim Museum from the outside and have some tapas in the old quarter.




Guggenheim, Bilbao.  Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2010.

Leaving Bilbao, we will make another short trip to have lunch at Extebarri, where chef-owner Victor Arguinzoniz has taken the  art of  grilling to a new level.  Some experts consider Etxeberri to be among the top restaurants in Spain.

After lunch, we will drive an hour to San Sebastián, where we will check into the magnificent turn-of-the-19th century Hotel Maria Cristina by 5 p.m.

Siesta time until dinner at 9:30 p.m. at either Restaurante Arzak, Juan Mari Arzak and daughter Elena’s three-star temple of gastronomy, or Martín Berasategui’s superb three-star Restaurante Martín Berasategui in nearby Lasarte.  All three chefs are long-time personal friends of our tour organizer. 

Day 02  Sunday, Nov 28 San Sebastián

Hotel Maria Cristina, San Sebastián

Sunday morning will be free to explore the old quarter and walk the magnificent la Concha beach and esplanade.

Lunch will be a short ride outside San Sebastián at Mugaritz, where Chef Andoni Aduriz is considered one of the most innovative young chefs in the Spanish cocina de vanguardia movement.

Pintxos of mushrooms with ham and txangurro (crab) in a pastry shell 
with a rosado from Navarra at Bar-Restaurante Gandarias.

We will return to San Sebastián after lunch and the afternoon will be free until evening when we will go on a optional tapas-hopping tour of San Sebastián’s best pintxos bars and restaurants, with optional gin-tonics, etc. at one of the city’s greatest bars. 



Joaquín Fernández, owner and champion barman of Dickens 
in San Sebastián, making his classic Gin Tonic.

Day 03  Monday, Nov 29 San Sebastián

Hotel Maria Cristina, San Sebastian

In the morning, we will visit the colorful La Bretxa, Basque caserío farmers' market and San Martín market, then have some tapas in the bars surrounding the markets, some of which may have as many as 50 pintxos lined up along the bar.

For lunch, we will take a drive west along the Cantabrian Sea coast of the Bay of Biscay to the wonderful Basque fishing village of Getaria, hometown of Elkano, the first man to circumnavigate the globe; Balenciaga, the famous fashion designer; and Placido Domingo’s mother.  


First we will have several exceptional seafood appetizers at Elkano, one of the greatest fish and seafood restaurants in the world, then walk down the hill to Kaia (in the same family as Elkano), which has spectacular views of the fishing port from its perch on the hill and offers whole turbot grilled outdoors over a wood fire, accompanied by wines from one of the most enticing wine cellars in nothern Spain.  Gerry Dawes has had multiple experiences in both restaurants and we will get special insights into Basque seafood cooking.

  Turbot grilling at Kaia.

After some post-prandial patxaran (Basque liquor), we will explore a little more of the coast, then return to San Sebastián where guests will be have free time until dinner.




Dinner will be at Rekondo, a game specialist and one of the few restaurants open on  Mondays.  First, we drive past Rekondo up Monte Igeldo for spectacular Ipanema-like night views of San Sebastián.   Txomín Rekondo is a friend of Gerry’s and will show us his phenomenal wine cellar, which is one of the best in Europe.
    
Day 04  Tues, Nov 30  San Sebastián - Navarra - Barcelona
       
Hotel Duquesa de Cardona, Barcelona

In the morning, we will drive south about an hour and a half to visit the wonderful storybook castle-village of Olite in Navarra.
 

A short drive from Olite, we will stop for an early (for Spain) lunch with a Navarra winemaker near Tudela at a restaurant in southern Navarra specializing in the famous vegetables of the Ribera de Navarra region.

Wine lunch in southern Navarra.

After lunch, we will head for Barcelona, arriving in the early evening, and check into our hotel, La Duquesa de Cardona, which is conveniently located between the Port Vell (the yacht basin) and the beach and the lively Las Ramblas area, which we will visit often during our time in Barcelona.

We will check into our hotel and have time to relax before we head for dinner at a restaurant facing the Port Vell, El Suquet de L'Almirall, where chef Quím Marquéz turns out some exceptional interpretations of modern dishes based on traditional Catalan recipes.  Marquéz worked at El Bulli and is a very good friend of José Andrés.

Day 05 Weds, Dec 01 Barcelona

La Boquería

Hotel Duquesa de Cardona, Barcelona
 

We will have breakfast/lunch at the fabulous Mercat de San Josep, La Boquería, where we will sample the cooking of two of the legendary market bars, Pinotxo and Quím de la Boquería, and explore the market, where Gerry will introduce us to several of the key players that make this market one of the greatest in the world. 

Quím de la Boquería

For dinner, we will sample Ramón Freixa's  superb food at El Raco d'en Freixa, Barcelona's top-rated restaurant.  Afterwards, we will either go to the OMM hotel, one of the sexiest restaurant-watering holes in Barcelona, then our guests will have the option of  drinks in the muy movida bar or visiting one of Barcelona's legendary night clubs. 

 Day 06  Thurs, Dec 02 Barcelona - Manresa - Barcelona

 Hotel Duquesa de Cardona, Barcelona

We will try to get our group into Ferran Adrià’s elBulli Taller workshop, but we can’t promise that yet.  However, Ferran and his brother Albert are opening an upscale tapas restaurant in Barcelona in November and the bar should be open by the time of our visit, so we stop there for a drink at some point during our stay in Barcelona.


Albert Adrià, José Andrés and friend at Inopia, the tapas bar in Barcelona that Albert recently sold. All photographs by Gerry Dawes©2010.


By 11 a.m., we will head from Manresa to visit the Alicia Foundation, which Ferran helped to found.  This institution that explores the connection between Alimentacion (food) y Sciencia (science) is more about exploring the science and healthful aspects of food.  It is not a laboratory for creating the innovative new dishes that Ferran and the other vanguardia chefs are famous for, but it is a fascinating place that is not to be missed.


Chef Jordi Cruz, Angle Restaurant, and 
Toni Massenes, head of the Alicia Foundation.

Right next to the Alicia Foundation is the Angle Restaurant, where one of the best young chefs in Catalunya (and all of Spain) cooks.  Gerry had an exceptional lunch there in March. 

After lunch, we will return to Barcelona, where the rest of the afternoon will be free to visit this amazing city.

In the evening, we go on a tapas tour of Barcelona.  Later, we will have the option of having drinks at El Velodromo, a Barcelona classic that was renovated and revived last year, after many years of being closed, by Carlos Abellan, one of Ferran Adrià’s best known disciples.

Day 07  Fri, Dec 03 Barcelona

Hotel Duquesa de Cardona, Barcelona

The morning and afternoon will be free to tour Barcelona.

In the evening, in la Barceloneta, at Can Majo, we will have our farewell dinner on such wonderful dishes as first-rate traditionally prepared mariscos (shellfish), paella and arros negre (black rice) cooked with squid and colored with squid ink, along with some local Catalan wines.

Portions of arros negre, black rice with squid, and 
paella de mariscos, shellfish paella, at Can Majó in La Barceloneta.

Day 08, Sat, Dec 04 Barcelona - USA


Late morning flight to the U. S.  Option to spend more days in Barcelona.

__________________________________________________________________________
About Gerry Dawes


Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

8/02/2010

The Passing of Michael Batterberry, The Culinary Grandee Who Co-Founder & Editor of Food Arts Magazine


* * * * *

Michael Batterberry receiving a Madrid Fusion award 
from Alberto Ruiz-Galladón, Mayor of Madrid, as Ariane Batterberry looks on.

I am very sad to report on the passing of one of the giants of the world of gastronomy and one of the greatest, most elegant men I have ever known, Michael Batterberry, who with his wife, Ariane (who survives him), Food & Wine magazine and then went on to found Food Arts, perhaps, because it is read avidly by chefs and restaurateurs, the most influential food magazine in America. 

Michael Batterberry receiving a Madrid Fusion award in 2006 from 
Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, Mayor of Madrid, as Ariane Batterberry looks on.

I am privileged to have known Michael Batterberry, to have shared experiences with him in New York, in Spain and in Napa Valley; to have written for Food Arts for nearly fifteen years under his direction; and to have been able to call him a friend. I, like many others, will miss him very, very much, now and into the future.

Michael Batterberry seriously contemplating his next culinary move 
at the Food Arts holiday party at Merle Evans's apartment, January 2010.

In any visual encyclopedia, under the definition of "gentleman," my first candidate would be a photograph of Michael in one of his impeccably tailored suits or blazers.  !Adios, Don Miguel, Vaya Usted con Dios!



Obituary, Food Arts 

7/27/2010

Estatuas Humanas (Living Statues) - The lovely Karen from Argentina, Winged Victory on Les Rambles, Barcelona

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For the past several years, I have been photographing the Estatuas Humanas, the living statue performers that I encounter in Spain.  I have captured the large majority of them in Barcelona on Les Rambles, the city's raffish pedestrian mall cum communal outdoor parlor.  Each time I go, I encounter new statues, but many endure for several years, like Karen, from Argentina, who performs as a golden Winged Victory and is one of my favorites.  I usually talk to her every time I go the Ramblas and, on a couple of occasions, I have managed to capture her lovely image out of costume--sort of!

The lovely Karen (Argentina), Winged Victory. Les Rambles, Barcelona. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes ©2008.


Photographs featuring Karen as Winged Victory on Les Rambles.
(Double click to see enlarged view, click F11 for full screen.)
_________________________________________________________________________________ 

Pimientos de piquillo (piquillo peppers)



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Pimientos de piquillo, small "pico," or beak-shaped [literally like a bird beak],
red triangular-shaped piquillo peppers.


Pimientos de piquillo rellenos de mariscos (piquillo peppers with a shellfish filling),
Restaurante Ducay, Olite (Navarra).


Pimiento de piquillo rellenos de bacalao (piquillo peppers with a salt cod filling)
and a red pepper sauce. Restaurante San Ignacio, Pamplona (Navarra).


Pimientos de piquillo stuffed with bonito tuna.
Conservas Camporel, Cintruenigo, Navarra.


Slide show of pimientos de piquillo rellenos 
at Conservas Camporel in Cintruenigo, Navarra. 
(Double click on image to see enlarged version.)


7/15/2010

Rusos de Álfaro: An exquisite, ethereal dessert from southeastern La Rioja that is little known outside its home region, but is one of the great desserts of Spain.


* * * * *
(A Work in Progress by Gerry Dawes. Text & Photographs©2010.)

* * * * *

First served to me at El Crucero restaurant, Corella (Navarra), rusos de Álfaro (literally, Russians from Álfaro) is an exquisite dessert that originated at Pastelería Malumbres in the late 19th Century in Álfaro, the main town of the La Rioja Baja winemaking district.   

Rusos de Álfaro, made with meringue, butter and sugar, sometimes flavored with almond or coffee cream, are world-class, ethereal, melt-in-your-mouth pastries that are delightful way to end a meal in southern Rioja or La Ribera de Navarra.  A dozen of these "rusos" weigh only 200 grams or about 7 ounces.

Marcos Malumbres of the founding family of Pastelería Malumbres showed Martín Orlando, the current owner since 1998 of what is now known as Confitería Marcos, how to make rusos de Álfaro and other desserts.   

Orlando told larioja.com, "In three generations, the way of making these pastries has not changed, but they had to change their ideas about how to achieve the ethereal texture (of the Rusos de Álfaro) using modern means (i. e., kitchen equipment and ovens)."
 
Rusos de Álfaro was voted the most preferred dessert of la Rioja at La Rioja.com. 
 
Rusos de Álfaro.

Rusos de Álfaro

La Receta (Recipe)

Recipe as published in Spanish on larioja.com and attributed to Martín Orlando of Confitería Marcos.

Ingredientes. Tal como aparecen en el etiquetado del producto, en orden decreciente:
Ingredients.  As they appear on the label of the product, en descending order.


Azúcar (Sugar)
Huevo (Egg)
Mantequilla (Butter)

Elaboración (How to make rusos):
 

Se prepara el merengue con clara de huevo y azúcar.
Make a meringue with egg whites and sugar.

Se escudilla para darle la presentación que deseamos.
(Se utilizan planchas cuadradas para los rusos y redondas para las tartas).
Use a baking pan for the prestentation desired, square tins for the Rusos, round ones for tarts.

Se hornea.              
Bake the meringue.

Por otro lado, se prepara la crema de mantequilla con huevo, azúcar y mantequilla.
While the meringue is baking, make a butter cream with eggs, sugar and butter.

Cuando se tiene todo preparado y atemperado se procede al montaje.
When the meringue has been baked and the butter cream is ready, you can put the whole thing together.

Se van montando las sucesivas capas de merengue y crema de mantequilla.
Alternate succesive layers of merengue and butter cream.

Los rusos de Confitería Marcos se realizan con tres capas de merengue y dos de mantequilla.
At Confitería Marcos three layers of merengue and two of butter cream are used.

Después se corta en la presentación que se desee.
Cut the pastries into the sizes and shapes desired.  They are also lightly dusted with confectioner’s sugar.

Opciones para postres caseros:
  Options for Rusos de Álfaro made at home.

En Confitería Marcos se comercializan migas de pastel de ruso, las cuáles se pueden combinar de diferentes formas para hacer postres.
  At Confitería Marcos, they sell “migas de pastel de ruso” (crumbs or smaller pieces), which can be combined in different ways to make desserts.
 

Martín Orlando sugiere mezclarlas con productos ácidos como los frutos del bosque o ponerles una cobertura de chocolate por encima.
Martín Orlando suggests mixing the migas with berries or putting chocolate over them.
 

Otros productos que tienen como base el pastel ruso: 
Other preparations that have “ruso” pastry as their base:

Tarta de ruso suprema (en la que se enriquece la crema de mantequilla con praliné de almendra).

Ruso supreme tart (in which the butter cream is enriched with almond praline).
 

Tarta de café: Enriquecida con pasas al ron y fideos de chocolate
Coffee tart: Enriched with rum-soaked raisins and strands of chocolate.
 

Cuadradito de chocolate: Inspirado en un bombón italiano, se trata de una mantequilla de chocolate enriquecida con un licor de cacao.

Little chocolate ruso squares: Inspired by an Italian “bombon”, they are made with a chocolate butter cream laced with chocolate liquer. 


To make this pastry “more than the percentage of ingredients, the most important thing is the way of making it.  You have to achieve a perfect baking temperature and time and an optimum assembly of the tart (the proportion of filling to meringue,” Martín Orlando told larioja.com, without revealing the proportions that he with the help of Señor Malumbre managed to perfect.

Like the article says, a maestro taught him how to do it, so they may not turn out exactly like those marvelous, ethereal rusos I had in Corella.

__________________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes  


Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 


". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 
 


Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series 
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.



7/11/2010

Pamplona--Matt Carney & Joe Distler at Las Fiestas de San Fermín, Talking About the Bulls and Running the Bulls

* * * * *






Matt Carney & Joe Distler running the bulls in el encierro de Pamplona. 
Painting by Matador John Fulton.



7/02/2010

José Andrés's Opening Party at Crystal City Jaleo in June for the Annual Jaleo Paella Festival with Guest Chef María José San Román of Monastrell and Taberna del Gourmet in Alicante.


* * * * *

María José San Román serving her arroz a banda 'Taberna'
(paella with shrimp and fresh squid from La Taberna del Gourmet in Alicante)
at Jaleo's Paella Festival opening party.
All photographs by Gerry Dawes©2010. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights.

* * * * *


ThinkFoodGroup CEO Rob Wilder, Guest Chef María José San Román, Spanish Chef José Pizarro and José Andrés at Jaleo's annual Paella Festival inaugural party, Crystal City.
All photographs by Gerry Dawes©2010. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights.

* * * * *
(Double click on image, go to Picasa web albums, click on slideshow and the F11 for full screen view.)

___________________________________________________________________________________


6/01/2010

About Gerry Dawes: Press, Awards, Tours to Spain, Television Trailer, Contact Info


 * * * * *

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

5/30/2010

Culture: the word on cheese (Summer issue). Beyond Cabrales, an Eight-page Article with Photographs of the Cheeses of Asturias, Northern Spain's National Park of Cheeses


* * * * *
Check out the Summer issue of Culture: the word on cheese. I have an eight-page article with photographs on the Asturias, Beyond Cabrales, with profiles of Cabrales and six other wonderful Asturian cheeses, plus hotel and restaurant recommendations.   Only the title page and a few photos are excerpted here, but you can find out how to get a copy on the Culture - the word on cheese website and read the rest of the article, plus articles by Max McCalman, Susan Herman Loomis, Janet Fletcher and an interview with Steve Jenkins.

_____________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

5/23/2010

Podcast Radio Interview with Gerry Dawes by Lynn Krielow Chamberlain, Wine & Dine Radio on VinVillage.com


* * * * *



Lynn Krielow Chamberlain touring the De Muller winery in Tarragona, Catalunya.  
Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2008.

Lynn Krielow Chamberlain ☊ Listen to iWineRadio interview--also carried on VinVillage.com--with Gerry Dawes, award-winning writer-photographer, who has been traveling or living in Spain for forty years. He has thousands of high quality digital photographs and a library of thousands of transparencies going back more than two (three) decades on a multitude of Spanish subjects. He has published hundreds of photographs in such publications as Food Arts, The Wine Spectator, The Wine News, The Wine Enthusiast, Santé, Decanter, Saveur and The New York Times. He has had cover and full-page shots for The Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and Wine News and has photographs in several books. 

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About Gerry Dawes  

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel  

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 


Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series  
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

4/16/2010

Abandoning Heavy Bottles for Wine, New Oak (de-forestation), High Alcohol and Other Pretenses; Plus Embracing the 500ml. Bottle For High-priced, High Alcohol Wines and Comments on Natural Cork Wine Stoppers with a Slide Show From Amorim, the Portuguese Cork Producer



* * * * *

Bar El Xampanyet, Barcelona. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2004.

Tyler Colman on his Dr. Vino's Wine Blog had a very interesting post on April 16, 2010 Tony Soter sheds some weight [carbon footprint] on Oregon winemaker (and long-time California winemaker-consultant) Tony Soter.  Soter had recently decided, according to Dr. Vino, "The Oregon vintner shipped his 2007 Pinot Noirs in bottles weighing 900g, more than the 750g of wine in the bottle. But for his 2008s (which were to be released soon), the bottles will weigh 600g (both bottles, pictured right). Needless to say, the reduced packaging mass greatly reduces the carbon footprint of the wine."

“The time has passed that you can try to impress people with the substance of the bottle as opposed to what is in the bottle,” he (Soter) said.

No kidding, Tony? (Back in the day, I used to sell Soter-made wines, which I quite liked.)!  What gave you the first clue that maybe you and the rest of the winemakers in Oregon--and in California, Spain, and elsewhere--should have been considering substance and content over form in the first place? 

Maybe more new wave (now old and very tired wave) Parkerista-bent winemakers from around the world should consider the words of star chef Thomas Keller (The French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon and an original, charter member of The Chefs From Hell Acrobatic Unicylcists and Winetasters Club of New York) from the Wall Street Journal yesterday (April 15, 2010).  Keller was quoted as saying, "We do what we believe in, not what our guests want us to do." 
(Sounds akin to the philosophy of the Spanish Artisan Wine Group!)

Thomas Keller at jamón Ibérico de bellota producer Joselito's hospitality suite at San Sebastián Gastronomika 2010. (Joselito: "Declared the best jamón in the world." 
Photo by Gerry Dawes ©2010 / gerrydawes@aol.com

How unique!  Maybe some wineries--those who are always telling me that their overblown, overripe, high alcohol/new oak-trashed wines (many put up in hernia-inducing bottles)--are "what the market is asking for!," should hire Keller as a consultant.

This was my comment in response to the Soter "heavy bottle" piece on the Dr. Vino Wine Blog:

"Isn't it amazing how people who ought to have known better in the first place change their thinking when the wind starts to blow from a different direction. Now, in addition to getting rid of super-heavy bottles (duh, the shipping costs alone for such pretentiousness ought to have been their first clue!), we will soon see a massive shift away from the “new French oak” religion, not because the inexpert use of new oak screws up the taste wine, but because new oak designer barrels cost too bloody much.  

Having their wines taste like someone had just dragged a new piece of lumber from the midnight shift at the sawmill over the drinkers was not enough for winemakers--toadying up to wine reviewers, who must have been moonlighting as raw furniture reviewers--to abandon their embrace of laying the wood to the fruits of their labors.  No, it is not the impact of oak on the taste the taste of wine isn't the reason the oaky monster crowd of winemakers is going to less and less new oak.  After all many of them preached "good" (read expensive) wood over good winemaking as a religion.   It is the impact of the falling dollar against the Euro laying the wood to their wallets that is causing this sudden change of heart.  Follow the money trail, folks, in wine, politics, even religion.
 
But, I digress.  As long as we are on the subject of heavy bottles, my partial solution to the outrageously high alcohol levels in the wines of California--and of Priorat, Ribera del Duero, Toro and other place–besides stopping the harvesting of irrigated fruit allowed to overripen, sometimes a necessity because the grapes are on the slow-drip tit–is to put these charicature trophy wines in 500ml bottles. 

A half liter (500ml.) is about all two people can drink of these high alcohol monster these days anyway, especially in restaurants (from which many customers have to drive), so that would stop customers from leaving a fourth to a third of the bottle un-drunk on the table.  Also, when you stop to think about it, a wine with 15% alcohol is not just 2.5% higher in potency than a wine of 12.5%, it actually has 20% more alcohol than a .750ml. normal bottle at 12.5%, which makes the experience almost like drinking a full liter of wine. 

Half-liter bottles would allow producers to simultaneously drop their price per bottle by about 25% and make more bottles available to the public for wineries who have tight allocations (the few left who do).  Sure, they would still keep bottling in 750ml. for collectors and wine aficionados who want to cellar those wines.


And, while we are at the carbon footprint thing (Dr. Vino's Wine Blog), how about doing away with plastic stoppers, which are going to end up in those huge floating plastic trash dumps in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean? And the carbon footprint on natural cork (News on Spanish wine and food- Qué se dice del vino y alimentos de España) is so far above that of the horrid screw-top closure that, now that TCA and bad corks* have generally been brought under control there is not real excuse for continuing the screw-top madness. (Yeh, I know they are easier to open, just don’t slice your finger on that aluminum that is going to end up in the landfill and create pollution.)

*Of the samples I am sent to taste for articles about Spanish wines, I seriously can’t remember when the last cork-tainted wine turned up.

Cork harvest, production and quality control at Amorim in Portugal.


______________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel


Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 



Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.



3/20/2010

Principado de Asturias Journal: Día de San José, March 19, 2010. A Very Pleasant Night in the Asturias at La Quinta de Villanueva with Beatrice Montes and Camino Guerra

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As part of my plan to learn about different hotels on my trip in March to El Principado de Asturias, I asked my trip organizers to put me in a different hotel each night (not recommended for those for whom unpacking and re-packing every day and sleeping in a different bed every night are a problem!)--with the stipulation that each place have FREE wi-fi available in the rooms (all but one, whose desk person said the wi-fi was not functioning do to the wind [it was a still night], worked). 

On the night of March 19, after visiting the goat cheese producer, La Chivita, Nacho Molina and I crossed the Sella River and wound our way to the village of Villanueva, where Nacho left me at La Quinta de Villanueva, a house built by an Indiano in the 19th century.   Indianos were local men who emigrated to Spanish America, often the Indies--Cuba, etc --made their fortunes and returned to their home cities and built large homes that reflected their wealth. These often ostentatious homes can be found in towns all over the Asturias, in Galicia and in the Canary Islands, especially.  


Ironically, this wine, food and cheese road warrior was uncharacteristically without a car and since La Quinta has no formal restaurant, the owners, Beatrice Montes (Beatrice of the Mountains, who spent a couple of years living in New Jersey) and her partner, Camino Guerra (another irony, literally, "Road War," two women serious about running a good bed-and-breakfast, kindly invited me to share dinner with in the downstairs breakfast room. After rummaging about for a suitable bottle of wine, we settled into an impromptu dinner of Spanish serrano ham and a Spanish vegetable tortilla, the vino and good conversation until bedtime.

The next morning, I had breakfast looking out over the gardens that Beatrice and Camino planted with flowers and plants that mirror the way the gardens were planted in the 19th century.   If you find yourself in the Eastern Asturias, right by the Cantabrian border--the Río Selles--you will be only minutes from the coast and minutes from a wonderful mountain road that follow the Selles (which eventually starts out as the
Río Cares) into the interior of the Asturias.   I highly recommend a Quinta de Villanueva as an overnight stop on any trip to the Asturias.



_______________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 


Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

3/15/2010

Spain’s Innovative Vangaurdia Cuisine vs. Traditional Down-Home Cooking, my article on the CIA-Worlds of Flavor website.

* * * * *
Text & Photographs by Gerry Dawes ©2008


In 2003, The Sunday New York Times Magazine cover asked, “Is Spain the New France?” and carried Arthur Lubow’s “A Laboratory of Taste” article about elBulli’s Ferran Adrià, Spain’s ultra-modern cocina de vanguardia maestro. Adrià’s espuma de zanahorias (the Times cover shot of, a glowing red-orange carrot foam served in a crystal vessel); mango raviolis made to look like egg yolks: melon, pear and peach “caviars,” spherified “olives”; and nitrogen-frozen cocktails suddenly grabbed culinary headlines around the globe. Adrià and Spanish modern cuisine were propelled in the gastronomic stratosphere. 

Carrot "air" at El Bulli, October 2003. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2003. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights.

Accompanying Adrià’s rocket ride into another culinary dimension were plenty of skeptics and detractors who did not understand what was going on in Spain, claiming that the Spaniards were selling “flavored air” and that Adrià himself was destroying Spain’s “national cuisine.” But, since Spain’s culinary ascendancy, because of the fame of Ferran Adrià and a sizeable clan of like-minded fellow Spanish chefs, a whole new genre of modern food emerged–including modernized traditional cuisine – attracting a steady stream of international chefs, food writers and food aficionados to Spain, and in its wake an awareness that Spanish traditional cuisine was some of the best food on the planet. 

 Ferran Adrià at El Bulli 2008.  
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2008. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights.

Since few gastronomic travelers coming to find out what all the fuss was about could actually get into elBulli–which has 2,000,000 annual requests for 8,000 potential reservations–the rest fanned out around the country, experiencing modern Spanish cuisine at Arzak, Akelarre and Martín Berasategui in the Basque Country, at Sergi Arola’s La Broche in Madrid, at Joan Roca’s Can Roca in Girona and at Carme Ruscalleda’s San Pau north of Barcelona. Many ventured on to experience what Raul Aleixandre at Ca Sento (Valencia), Quique Dacosta at El Poblet (Denia, Alicante) and María José San Roman at Monastrell (Alicante) were doing. Professionals also came to conferences such as Madrid Fusión (maybe the world’s top annual culinary summit), the chef-driven Lo Mejor de la Gastrónomía in San Sebastián and Roser Torras’s superb bi-annual BCN Vanguardia in Barcelona. And many young chefs began to choose Spain over France as their first choice to do their stages. In their travels these culinary pilgrims also began eating in Spanish traditional cuisine restaurants. They soon discovered that, while Spanish modern cuisine can be creative beyond belief and is often delicious as well as innovative, it is often the great traditional eating experiences that leave the most indelible imprint in the minds of most travelers. 

Guisantes (peas)--real or spherification, or both?--elBulli, 2008. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2010. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights.

Read the rest of the article here.
____________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel


Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 



Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
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