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A Spanish Adventure Designed, Organized and Guided by Acclaimed Spanish Gastronomy, Wine & Culture Expert Gerry Dawes,
Premio Nacional de Gastronómía (Spanish National Gastronomy Prize) & James Beard Journalism Awards Finalist
Food and Wine Road Warrior Gerry Dawes in Burgos, Spain.
Photo by Douglas Merriam.
"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. He has connected with all
manner of people working at every level and in every corner of Spain. I’m always amazed at this reach. You
can step into a restaurant in the smallest town in Spain, and it
turns out they know Gerry somehow.”--Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José
Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Chef-partner, Mercado Little Spain at
Hudson Yards, New York.
Santa Fe Star Chef James Campbell Caruso is an 8-time James
Beard Award Nominee. His 30-year career as a chef, restaurateur, culinary
instructor and cookbook author has been focused on bringing the passion and
exuberance of Spanish gastronomy and wine to New Mexico. In 2006 he open La
Boca Tapas Restaurant in downtown Santa Fe to rave reviews. The New York Times called Caruso's food at La Boca “modern reinventions
of classic Spanish Cuisine”and Town & Country Magazine dubbed Caruso “the
Southwest’s King of Tapas!”
Click on the title above to see the full itinerary.
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May 3 – May 14,
2023 (11 days, 10 nights)
Madrid
and Its Vibrant Tapas Scene, Magical Segovia, Magnificent Roman Ruins,
Jamón
Ibérico, Extremaduran Cheese, Non-Gavage Foie Gras and Goose Ham,
Sephardic Sites, Andalucian Seafood, Moorish Palaces, Sherry & Don
Quixote’s La Mancha Tour of Spain
Including
the great cities and towns of Madrid, Segovia, Ávila, Salamanca,
Cáceres, Mérida, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz, Sevilla, Córdoba, Toledo, and Chinchón
Itinerary
Day 00, Wed, May 3 USA to Madrid
Several of our trip members arrived early.
Several of our trip members arrived early.
At the invitación of our friends (and neighbors of ours in Putnam County, New York, Jenifer Lang, who is the former owner of NYC´s classiest restaurant, Café des Artistes, and her Montana-raised partner, Matthew Levithan, we had lunch a La Pulpería de Mila on calle Lagasca in the silk stocking Salamanca district of Madrid. La Pulpería de Mila is one of 25 restaurants operated in Madrid, by Grupo Oter, a restaurant group that operates at a very high level of professionalism and generally have very good food. I had eaten at Verdura y Brasa, another Grupo Oter restaurant in Madrid in February, invited by my dear friend, Spain´s top winemaker Mariano García.
Spain´s top winemaker Mariano García and Gerry Dawes, wearing bibs to eat calçots con romesco sauce at Grupo Oter´s Verdura y Brasa Restaurant, Feb. 10, 2023.
Carabineros, superb scarlet prawns, at La Pulpería de Mila restaurant, Madrid, May 3, 2023 
Alcachofas a la plancha, artichokes steamed until they are tender, then they are gilled a la plancha, at La Pulpería de Mila restaurant, Madrid, May 3, 2023
In the evening, many of us celebrated the birthday of Janet Cam, former owner of LePavillon, then Washington, D. C.'s greatest restaurant, at O Grelo, a Galician seafood restaurant on calle Menorca in Madrid's Ibiza district, which borders Retiro Park on the northeast side and is the hottest tapas restaurant area of the city.
May 3, 2023.
More to come.
Day 01, Thurs, May 4 Madrid (L, T)
Arrive in Madrid, Spain's capital, where we will rendezvous at our hotel, which will be near the Prado Museum. We will allow everyone to rest and freshen up, then we will meet at 2 p.m. for lunch at a restaurant owned by Spain’s greatest cortador de jamones, Ibérico ham carver (he travels the world demonstrating how to carve these exquisite expensive hams should be properly carved) and sample the best jamón, personally selected by this superstar personality. This will be our first introduction to jamón Ibérico, the world's best hams from acorn-fed, pata negra (black foot breed) pigs. The woman chef, mother of the cortador’s restaurant partner, is a great traditional cuisine cook, so jamón will just be the intro to our meal.
After lunch, we will visit the Prado Museum with a professional guide.
In the evening, we will stop at a couple of very special tapas places on the other side of Retiro Park.
Arrive in Madrid, Spain's capital, where we will rendezvous at our hotel, which will be near the Prado Museum. We will allow everyone to rest and freshen up, then we will meet at 2 p.m. for lunch at a restaurant owned by Spain’s greatest cortador de jamones, Ibérico ham carver (he travels the world demonstrating how to carve these exquisite expensive hams should be properly carved) and sample the best jamón, personally selected by this superstar personality. This will be our first introduction to jamón Ibérico, the world's best hams from acorn-fed, pata negra (black foot breed) pigs. The woman chef, mother of the cortador’s restaurant partner, is a great traditional cuisine cook, so jamón will just be the intro to our meal.
Florencio Sanchidrián, Spain's top professional ham carver.
After lunch, we will visit the Prado Museum with a professional guide.
In the evening, we will stop at a couple of very special tapas places on the other side of Retiro Park.
Bus
driver Antonio Carrasco and our comfortable 24-seat bus from the
Esteban Rivas company in Madrid. I have worked with this company on
numerous trips. My drivers are terrific and end up being integral
members of our trip.
Comments are welcome and encouraged.
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?
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
"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
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
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