Photo Album of Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017: The Shared Codes of Haute Cuisine, Paths of the Future, 15th Anniversary Edition, January 23-25, 2017

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 Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017 The Shared Codes of Haute Cuisine, Paths of the Future, 15th Anniversary Edition.   Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017

 Arturo Sánchez, one of Spain’s greatest producers of jamón Ibérico de Bellota and embutidos (charcuterie) from Guijuelo (Salamanca) with José Ángel Muñoz, his company’s cortador de jamones (professional ham carver) at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17 #arturosanchez

 My old friend Alicante restaurateur Pitu Perramón, husband of celebrity chef María José San Román at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17 

 Three-star chef Quique Dacosta (Quique Dacosta, Denia, Alicante) and journalist Alexander Forbes at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17 #alexandraforbes #quiquedacosta

 Three-star chef Quique Dacosta (Quique Dacosta, Denia, Alicante) and journalist Alexander Forbes at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17 #alexandraforbes #quiquedacosta

María José San Román (Monastrell, Alicante) and Quique Dacosta (Quique Dacosta) at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17 #quiquedacosta #grupogourmet #mariajosesanroman 

 Wine and olive oil producer, Carlos Falcó, el Marqués de Griñón, and Gerry Dawes at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  #amf17 Photo by Xandra Falcó.

 Wine and olive oil producer, Carlos Falcó (Marqués de Griñón), José Raventós (Director Nacional, Bodegas Roda-Corimbo-Aubocassa) and Esmeralda Capel (Directora Asisa Madrid Fusión) at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17

 Video producer and gastronomy writer Pepe Barrena with three-star Michelin chef Joan Roca (Celler de Can Roca) at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17

 Gerry Dawes, Mikel Urmeneta (former owner of Kukuxumusu and now founder-owner of Katuki Saguyaki; yes, he makes those faces in photographs on purpose) and Mikel’s friend Luis Alberto at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17

 José Rodríguez Tarin, director general of Hotel Wellington, Madrid, and Gerry Dawes in the VIP lounge at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17.

 Amaia Ortuzar, Chef-owner of the legendary San Sebastián pintxo bar-restaurant Ganbara, licks a dollop of oestra caviar off her hand as Fernando Remírez de Ganuza, owner of Bodegas Remírez de Ganuza looks on at at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17

 Chef Tony Pérez, Alma Restaurant, La Mata-Torre Vieja (Alicante) at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17 #Alma

 

Directora General de Turisme de la Generalitat Valenciana (Director of Tourism for La Comunitat Valenciana) Raquel Huete Nieves samples a chufa de Valencia (used to make the popular drink, horchata) at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17 #Tigernuts

Chufa de Valencia, the Tigernut tuber that is using to make the very popular drink horchata, a sweet refreshing cold drink that can be readily found in the provinces of Valencia and Alicante.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17 #Tigernuts 

Chufa de Valencia, the Tigernut tuber that is using to make the very popular drink horchata, a sweet refreshing cold drink that can be readily found in the provinces of Valencia and Alicante.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17 #Tigernuts 

Black winter truffles from Morella (Castellón) at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17

Licor de Crema de Trufa from la Comunitat Valenciana at Asisa Madrid Fusión 2017. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2017 #amf17

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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. 
 

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@gmail.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com

Madrid Fusión 2014, Day One Jan. 27 in Photos

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 Three-star chef Joan Roca of Can Roca (Girona, Catalunya), named by UK's Restaurant Magazine panel as The Best Restaurant in the World, on the first day of Madrid Fusión 2014 doing his presentation, Creatividad Urbana: Inspiración Externa, Motivación Interna. 
 Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 70-200mm f/4L USM with Canon 1.4 Telextender. 

 
Madrid Fusión 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
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Juan Mari Arzak, María José San Román and Quique Dacosta at Madrid Fusión 2014. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4. 

Chefs Sergi Arola and Jordi Cruz at Madrid Fusion 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 70-200mm f/4L USM with Canon 1.4 Telextender. 

 Pitu Perramón, Owner of La Taberna de Gourmet and other restaurants in Alicante, Jordi Cruz (ABaC, Barcelona) and his assistant chef, David, and food writer / Catalan culinary personality Xavi Agullò with champion cortador de jamón Clemente Gómez at Los Pedroches jamón Ibérico stand, on a jamón stand hopping tour that I organized at Madrid Fusión 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4. 

 Three-star chef Martín Berasategui and two-star chef Paco Pérez (Hotel Mirror, Barcelona and Miramar, Costa Brava) at Madrid Fusión 2014. 
 Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4. 

José Andrés and three-star chef Juan Mari Arzak (Arzak, San Sebastián) at Madrid Fusión 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4. 

 
Slide Show of Madrid Fusión 2014, Day One Jan. 27

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About Gerry Dawes

Writing, Photography, & Specialized Tours of Spain & Tour Advice

For custom-designed tours of Spain, organized and lead by Gerry Dawes, and custom-planned Spanish wine, food, cultural and photographic itineraries, send inquiries to gerrydawes@aol.com.  

I have planned and led tours for such culinary stars as Chefs Thomas Keller, Mark Miller, Mark Kiffin, Michael Lomonaco and Michael Chiarello and such personalities as baseball great Keith Hernandez and led on shorter excursions and have given detailed travel advice to many other well-known chefs and personalities such as Drew Nieporent, Norman Van Aken, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg, Christopher Gross, Rick Moonen, James Campbell Caruso and many others.

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“The American writer and town crier for all good Spanish things Gerry Dawes . . . the American connoisseur of all things Spanish . . .” Michael Paterniti, The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge and The World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese

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"Gerry Dawes, I can't thank you enough for opening up Spain to me." -- Michael Chiarello on Twitter. 

"Chiarello embarked on a crash course by traveling to Spain for 10 days in 2011 with Food Arts

contributing authority Gerry Dawes, a noted expert on Spanish food and wine.  Coqueta's (Chiarello's new restaurant at Pier Five, San Francisco) chef de cuisine, Ryan McIlwraith, later joined Dawes for his own two week excursion, as well. Sampling both old and new, they visited wineries and marketplaces, as well as some of Spain's most revered dining establishments, including the Michelin three-star Arzak, Etxebarri, the temple to live fire-grilling; Tickets, the playful Barcelona tapas bar run by Ferran Adrià and his brother, Albert; and ABaC, where Catalan cooking goes avant-garde." - - Carolyn Jung, Food Arts, May 2013.

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"In his nearly thirty years of wandering the back roads of Spain," Gerry Dawes has built up a much stronger bank of experiences than I had to rely on when I started writing Iberia...His adventures far exceeded mine in both width and depth..." -- James A. Michener, author of Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections

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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. 

Pilot for a reality television series with Gerry Dawes  
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

Alicante: Monastrell & La Taberna del Gourmet

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Monastrell, calle San Fernando 10, 03002 Alicante. 96 520 03 63. Chef María José San Román, who worked under Catalan three-star chef Joan Roca has made Monastrell (named for the local red grape, the French mouvedre) the top modern cuisine choice in the capital.

And María José is an azafrán (saffron) expert (see this recent article in The New York Times; she is working on a book on saffron.

She uses Spanish azafrán, often almost imperceptibly, in many of her dishes, including desserts. Opt for her tasting menu and be surprised by her ideas, combinations and the quality of the ingredients she uses.

La Taberna del Gourmet (Taberna, Delicatessen & Wine Bar), San Fernando 10, Alicante. 965-204-233. María José San Román's superb, quality product-driven, taberna and wine bar, next door to Monastrell and one of the best traditional cuisine restaurants in La Comunitat Valenciana. Somehow you must work María José's restaurants (she also owns Los Mejillones [The Mussels], a block away on the Esplanada de España) into your stay in Alicante, even if it is just some tapas at the bar at La Taberna del Gourmet, which is run by Geni Perramón, daughter of María José and El Portero "Pitu" Perramón.

My recommendation at La Taberna, which is also "Pitu"'s (legendary former goalkeeper for the Spanish national handball team) pride and joy, is to put yourself in the hands of Geni and ask her (drop my name) to do a tasting luncheon of stellar modernized traditional offerings.

Depending on the season, a "little" sampling luncheon may include such dishes as little Navarrese txistorra chorizos; a shared portion of arrós con magro y verduras (paella-like rice with pork and vegetables), maybe the best patatas bravas (saffron-infused) in Spain; splendid, supernal gambas rojas (legendary prawns from the Alicante coast); and unbeatable grilled sepionets (small cuttle fish).

Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, go on with white esparragos de Navarra with a vinagreta de solera de requena (aged vinegar); an ensalada méditerraneo (arugula , goat cheese cubes, tomatoes and siurana olive oil),;spectacularly good croquetas de chorizo Ibérico; equally spectacular alcachofa a vinagreta (artichokes); pan con tomate y anchoas (bread rubbed with tomate and topped with house-cured anchovies; a little escalivada montadito con foie (grilled vegetables on a toast round with foie gras); riñoncitos de lechazo (milk-fed lamb kidneys) and finish up with a bit of arrós caldoso con cigala y sepia en dados (a delicious soupy marinera rice with chunks of Dublin Bay prawns and sepia cuttle fish).

The wine: A Godello from Valdeorras.

Of course, a little dessert won't hurt, so try María José's bizcocho de tocino de cielo, borracho de lima, freson and helado de gengibre, a take off on the classic, normally sinfully rich, lighter in this version tocino de cielo (read eggs and sugar), with lime, strawberries and a ginger ice cream.

Or course, you don't have to do this whole-nine-yards-menu, which I am very honored to say is now called "El Menu de Gerry Dawes," you can tell Geni when to stop anytime.