A Truly Special Lunch at the Bar at La Sirena in Petrer Alicante with a Dear Friend Chef-Owner Mari Carmen Vélez

 

* * * * * 

 

Mari Carmen Vélez's gambas rosas de Denia (pink shrimp) at the bar at La Sirena in Petrer (Alicante).

 

 

April 14, 2019 (B. C., Before COVID)

 

Yesterday, I dumbly listened to my Spanish GPS-not a phone connection on the way from Valencia to Alicante airport to pick up Kay, who was on a delayed flight from New York to Madrid, causing her to miss the first flight to Alicante. The GPS took me by the slightly longer inland route to Alicante. When I was half an hour or so west of Alicante, I realized that I would pass the towns of Elda and Petrer. Elda is where my friend Paco Torreblanca, the renowned pastry chef lives and works, and neighboring Petrer is where another long-time friend, star chef Mari Carmen Vélez has her marvelous restaurant La Sirena with its legendary tapas bar. 

 

As I was approaching Petrer, it was 15:30 (3:30 p.m.) and I had not eaten. I self debated whether to stop and bother Mari Carmen, because I knew they were closing by 4 p.m. and it was a Saturday and she has another business. She might not even be there. 

 

 

 

Then I decided, what the Hell? I haven't been this close in awhile and I hadn't seen Mari Carmen for years and Kay's plane was due in some time after 5 p.m., so I decided to get off the highway and see if I could get to La Sirena before 4 p.m. By 3:45 p.m., I had found the restaurant and one lucky parking spot a block away. I parked and went down to bar of La Sirena, which is right next to the see-in kitchen and there was Mari Carmen at her station still working away. I motioned to another kitchen employee who spotted me in the doorway to get Mari Carmen's attention. She looked up, saw me, at first didn't realize it was me, but when she did she stopped what she was doing and came out of kitchen with smiles, hugs and besos. 

 

She put me at the bar and started sending out some exceptional dishes, then joined me at the bar for part of the feast. Mari Carmen is a great chef, has a great restaurant and one of the greatest restaurant tapas bars in Spain. 

 

Along with a draft Alhambra Especial beer, these are some of the more than half a dozen dishes I had. (I did get to the airport to pick up Kay, but because of the airport configuration and directions miscues (damned GPS again), we couldn't find one another for more than half an hour!)

 

 

Tartar de atún with cerveza Alhambra at Mari Carmen Vélez´s Restaurante & Bar La Sirena in Petrer (Alicante). 

 

Gambas rosas de Denia (pink shrimp) at the bar at Mari Carmen Vélez's La Sirena in Petrer (Alicante).

 

Kokotxas de merluza rebozadas (battered, fried hake cheeks) at Mari Carmen Vélez´s Restaurante & Bar La Sirena in Petrer (Alicante).  

 

Chuletillas de cabrito from a small-flock goatherder near Jumilla at the bar at Mari Carmen Vélez's La Sirena in Petrer (Alicante).

 

Constructive comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

If you enjoy these blog posts, please consider a contribution to help me continue the work of gathering all this great information and these photographs for Gerry Dawes's Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel. Contributions of $5 and up will be greatly appreciated. Contributions of $100 or more will be acknowledged on the blog. Please click on this secure link to Paypal to make your contribution.

 

Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2021.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

* * * * *

  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 was 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