Mercado Little Spain Hudson Yards: The Food in Photographs Part Two by Gerry Dawes (March 14-19, 2019)

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Mercado Little Spain Hudson Yards:  The Food in Photographs Part Two

(All these photos by or courtesy of Gerry Dawes©2019. No publication of these photos is allowed without written permission.)

My long-time friend, John Sconzo (Docsconz), whom I have guided on numerous trips to Spain) came down from his home near Lake George, NY and we visited Mercado Little Spain on March 19, 2019.  Cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig) will be featured at Leña (Firewood), the wood-fired roasted & grilled meats and paella stand, at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2019.

The paella pit with an authentic paella Valenciana at Mercado Little Spain being manned by one of the paella cooks. My long-time friend Rafael Vidal of Restaurante El Levante in Benisanó, is Spain’s greatest paella Valenciana maestro and he is the paella consultant for the Leña (wood-fired) paella and grilled and roasted meat stand at Mercado Little Spain. 

Specialty cuts of superb fresh Ibérico de bellota pork meat--called pluma, abanico, presa, secreto, lomo, etc.--from pigs fattened from feeding free-range for months on acorns in oak forests in southwestern Spain, will be available at Leña (Firewood), the wood-fired roasted & grilled meats and paella stand, at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards.

 Mercado Little Spain Trainer Maggie Elmore serving from a carafe gazpacho con guarnición, Andalucian gazpacho with diced vegetable garnish at La Barra at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2019.

Gazpacho con guarnición, Andalucian gazpacho with diced vegetable garnish, at La Barra at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019.

 Albert Adrià’s spherified “liquid” olives at La Barra at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards are popped into your mouth and explode with green olive flavor.

 Salad of peeled tomatoes, tuna belly, frisee and black olives at La Barra at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019. 

 Gambas al ajillo, shrimp fired in a casserole with Spanish Extra Virgen Olive Oil and sliced garlic with a garnacha rosado wine from Navarra.

   A pot of arroz caldoso, a "soupy" seafood rice dish--one of my favorite rice dishes--at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019.

Barcelona Pig Balls, Bombas de Barcelona, a delicious ball of potato stuffed with ground pork, deep-fried then served with tomato and allioli sauces at la Barra, Mercado Little Spain.

 Muslos de codornices, quail drumsticks (five of them), in a stew with vegetables, a superb dish, with which I chose an Alquiera Ribeira Sacra Mencía, at La Barra at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019.

 Classic Rabo de Toro con Patatas, rich oxtail stew with cubed potatoes, at La Barra at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019.

Creative Director of José Andrés´s ThinkFoodGroup, John Sconzo (Docsconz), wine lady Winnie Burwell and Gerry Dawes at at La Barra at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019.  Photo courtesy of  Gerry Dawes©2019.

             

Arturo Sánchez (Guijuelo, Salamanca) and Cinco Jotas (Jabugo, Huelva) Jamón Ibérico  de Bellota hanging in special curing lockers at the Jamón and Queso stand at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards.   

 

 ThinkFoodGroup Maestro Cortador de Jamón (Master Ham Carver) Pedro Carrasco "opening," making the preliminary cuts for carving one of these special Spanish hams at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards. 

 Manchego cheeses at the Jamón and Queso stand at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards.

 Mahón (cows' milk cheese) from Menorca, Balearic Islands, and Idiazabal ewes' milk cheese from the Basque Country of Spain, in the Jamón and Queso shop display at José Andrés & Albert and Ferrna Adrià´s Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019.

 

      Chef jackets on sale at the shop at Mercado Little Spain.      

 

 Trés Huevos:  Quim Marqués, formerly the chef-owner of Suquet de L’Almirall in Barcelona, José Andrés and John Sconzo (Docsconz) at Mercado Little Spain (a José Andrés, Albert Adrià and Ferran Adrià creation) Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019.

Ferran Adrià, Albert Adrià´s older brother and ultra super culinary star, who was, with Albert, the creative force behind the now-closed, often cited as the Best Restaurant in the World elBulli, north of Barcelona, is one of the three main creative forces--Albert, Ferran and José Andrés and their teams--behind Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards.  Photo of Ferran Adrià, whom I have been photographing since 1996, at Madrid Fusión 2019 by Gerry Dawes©2019.

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  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

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About Gerry Dawes

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

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

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. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at  gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com