A Fantastic Dinner with Emiliano García at Restaurante Organyo, Valencia.

 

* * * * * 

 Emiliano García Domene, owner of Casa Montaña, with Lourdes Reyna, partner, Restaurante Oganyo, Carrer de Bèlgica, 30, 46021 València. 011 34 961 18 40 90.

 

In April 2019, during my stay in Valencia and my passage through Alicante province, I had three remarkable meals—Friday lunch with Emiliano García Domene at Casa Montaña (see separate post) in the Cabanyal district of Valencia and lunch at the bar with Mari Carmen Vélez at the bar at La Sirena (see separate post) in Petrer (Alicante)—and this superb dinner at Oganyo, a new restaurant that Emiliano and his partner Olga Juhasz took me to Friday night in Valencia. 

 

Oganyo partners, Lourdes Reyna and Chef Carlos Moreno, who studied at The Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastián and worked with Albert Adrià at Tickets, have opened an upscale casual, relatively moderately priced for the quality (35 & 45 Euro prix fixe menus with 4-18 Euro a la carte dishes) restaurant with Carlos Moreno’s terrific food and a well-chosen wine list. The restaurant was full the night we were there and the food and whole experience is very highly recommended.

 

Chef-partner Carlos Moreno, who cut his culinary teeth in San Sebastián at The Basque Culinary Center and working with Albert Adrià at Tickets in Barcelona.  

 

Burrata with sorrel, fried walnuts and mushrooms at Oganyo.

 

 

   

Pate de campaña, toasted bread, almonds, pickles and mandarine chutney at Restaurante Oganyo.

 

 Navajas gallegas XL a la parrilla escabechado, extra large Galician razor clams grilled and served in escabeche (vinaigrette) at Restaurante Oganyo.

 

Mollete de papada, pancetta, mascarapone y mostaza, buns with pork cheeks, pancetta, mascarapone and mustard--a la David Chang and Tickets Barcelona--at Restaurante Oganyo.

 

Baby artichokes with bone marrow in a soy sesame truffle oil broth at Restaurante Oganyo. (Good dish, but could do without truffle oil!)

 

Grilled white asparagus with baby faba beans at Restaurante Oganyo.

 

Vieira a la plancha (grilled scallops) with mushroom spaghetti, cardoons and smoked cauliflower at Restaurante Oganyo.

 

* * * * *

  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.

  ______________________________________________________________________

 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

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

 
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@gmail.com