The Bar at Marisquería Rafa: A Five Dalí POM (Persistence of Memory) Melting Watch Award Experience

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Gerry Dawes toasting with Champagne at the Bar at  Marisquería Rafa, Madrid.

Photograph by John Sconzo (Docsconz:  Musings on Food & Life)

 Gerry Dawes's Persistence of Memory* (Salvador Dalí) Melting Watch Awards.

This article on Marisquería Rafa in Madrid, is the first post in what will be a series of articles on restaurants and tapas bars from around Spain that I think, from my very personal experience, deserve Five of Five Dalí POM (Persistence of Memory) Melting Watch Award pins.  I frankly don’t give a damn about Michelin ratings, Repsol or any of the rest.  I have been traveling and eating and drinking wine all over Spain for nearly 50 years and I have been to most of the restaurants in these articles multiples times.  Yes, I am influenced by the friendly relationships I have with many of the chefs and owners of these establishments and I take into consideration the downside for those who might not be connected in some of the restaurants I am writing about.  Nonetheless, I have had repeated Five Melting Watch experiences in all the places I am going to write about.  

Rafael Andrés & María José Orbe with Gerry Dawes at the Bar at Rafa.

   Photo copyright by Harold Heckle.

Though this list of establishments receiving my highest rating does not include all the eating experiences I plan to include in this series, among these establishments are the following:

1.    Extebarri in the Basque Country has refined grilling a magical art form, so almost ever dish you get is something special.

2.    Elkano and Kaia in the fishing village of Getaria is the place to go for the best txangurro (spider crab scrape from the shell, put back into the shell with leeks, sherry, brandy and breadcrumbs and passed under the broiler and whole rodaballo (turbot) cooked outside over a wood fire.

3.    El Crucero, in the overlooked town of Corella, in southern Navarra, which is a vegetable region.  The creative chef, Nabor Jiménez does dishes such as sliced, fried small artichoke hearts with foie gras (have a sweet Aliaga Late Harvest muscatel with dish, since only sweet wines don’t clash with artichokes. 

4.    La Taberna del Gourmet, María José San Román’s incredible tradtional cuisine restaurant in Alicante, just a block of the palm-lined Explanada.  The best product, the best technique. Maybe the best tapas restaurant in Spain.   Gambas rojas de Denia, rice dishes, sea urchins, etc.  Whatever is fresh from the market that day.  Coverage of the remarkable GrupoGourmet culinary empire in Alicante, including her Michelin-starred Monastrell, the Tribeca beer and hamburger bar and her son-in-law’s grilled meat restaurant, La Vaquería, El Campello (Playa de San Juan de Alicante).

5.    Casa Elias, in the pueblo of Xinorlet inland in the province of Alicante, for thin-layer arroz cooked in paella pans over a grape vine cuttings fire. 

6.    D’Berto in O Grove (Pontevedra), Galicia.  Certainly among the greatest shellfish restaurants in the world. 

7.    Casa Bigote and Bar Bigote in Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Andalucía.  Exceptional seafood, friend fish, composed fish dishes and those wonderful Langostinos (prawns) de Sanlúcar, fresh off the plancha grill. 

8.    Quim de la Boquería in la Boquería market in Barcelona.  Put yourself in Quim Marquéz’s hands for a five-star dining experience on a taburete (barstool).  Plump gambas al ajillo, among the best in Spain.  Lovely ceviche de corvina with mango with Juve i Camps Pinot Noir Rosat (rosé) Cava.  Fried tiny fish, chanquetes con huevo frito, with a fried egg.  You can also go to front of the market to the legendary Pinotxo and have Xuchos, a wonderful pastry, and Calamarsets Saltats amb Fesos de Santa Pau (baby squid with tiny white Santa Pau (a village north of Barcelona on the Mediterranean.

9. Ganbara, in the old quarter of San Sebastián, has numerous varieties of mushrooms.  Have an assortment grilled, use a raw egg yolk as the sauce and you will be in mushroom heaven. 

10. Madrid, on Sunday nights most restaurants are closed, so I go to two places.  First, Marisquería Rafa, in the other side of Retiro Park in the Ibiza Metro area, where Rafa Andrés serves one of the best salpicónes, either with lobster or with shellfish in vinaigrette, one of the best ensaladillas rusas (“Russian” potato salad), wonderful jamón Ibérico and other dishes such as beberechos (cockles).    

After having some of Rafa’s dishes as appetizers, I usually go to Casa Lucio on Cava Baja in the Old Quarter of Madrid and eat setas a la plancha (plancha-grilled mushrooms with garlic, for which I request a raw egg yolk or two as a sauce, and huevos rotos con patatas (eggs “broken” over friend potatoes) and maybe a steak brought out on a sizzling platter.  Yes, Casa Lucio is getting my Five Dalí POM (Persistence of Memory) Melting Watch Award as well.  If I am in Madrid on a Sunday night, 99% of those nights I will end up at either Casa Lucio or Marisquería Rafa.   Yes, I know there are supposed to be better places for traditional Castilian food in Madrid than Lucio and Rafa and I know a lot of them, but both places are home and family to me and it would be hard to beat the overall experiences at either place. 

Marisquería Rafa
Calle de Narváez, 68
28009 Madrid, Spain
Phone: +34 915 73 10 87
  

 Juanjo Mateos Fornelio with mariscos at Marisquería Rafa, Madrid. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2016.
   

Marisquería Rafa, which has been in business since 1958, began for me more than twenty years ago as one of those Sunday nights-in-Madrid-when-everything-else-is-closed experiences and, over the period of a decade, became a regular stop on my prowl of Madrid restaurants.  And, because Casa Rafa was reliable I booked a couple of gastronomic tour groups that I was taking around Spain into the upstairs dining room, where I could bring special wines in and talk to my fellow travellers about them over lunch or dinner.

I began to establish the relationship I have today with Rafa Andrés, who owns Rafa with his cousin Miguel Angel Andrés, who alternates between being Chef and running the front of the house.

 Gerry and Rafa having a serious discussion about some item of gastronomic importance.   Maybe I am bugging Rafa to triple the size of the small entry way bar area, which might seat a half dozen people on one side, with maybe room for three-to-four more patrons at a side bar.

Though I have been going to Rafa for more than two decades, my afición really began to ratchet up, beginning with the advent of the Madrid Fusión Gastronomic Summit in 2003, which is held in Madrid every January.   The foreign chef and press contingent always arrives on Sunday the day before the event begins, so I began to look for places where I could take visiting journalists and chefs for one of the only free nights on the town in Madrid.  Thus, Marisquería Rafa and Casa Lucio, both being open on Sunday nights, when many other restaurants are closed, became my go to places to take foreign gastronomic luminaries to experience traditional Spanish cuisine before they began the vortex of cocina de vanguardia Ferran Adrià-inspired creative fusion cuisine on Monday morning.  

 Tapas bar hopping with four great friends in Madrid, Juan Suárez, former Madrid Fusión Director Esmeralda Capel (she retired), cook-cookbook author-culinary educator Gabriela Llamas and British journalist Harold Heckle, at Marisquería Rafa, Sept. 10. 2019.

  Amercian journalists Arthur Bovino, John Sconzo and George Semler at the Bar at Rafa. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2015.

I began to rally groups of invitees to Madrid Fusión to these nights on the town.  Over the years they have included Chefs Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar & Grill (NYC), Michael Ginor (Hudson Valley Foie Gras), Ken Oringer (Toro, Boston), Jonathan Benno (then Chef of Per Se, NYC), Santa Fe’s Mark Miller, author Harold McGee, Ruth Reichl (then editor of Gourmet magazine), Jeffrey Steingarten (food critic of Vogue), Colman Andrews (Managing Editor, The Daily Meal and author of Catalan Cuisine), journalists Arthur Bovino, George Semler and John Sconzo (Docsconz: Musings on Food & Life). 

Several Madrid Fusión Gastronomic Summit attendees at the bar at Marisquería Rafa.  Among them Anne E. McBride of the Culinary Institute of America, John Sconzo (Docsconz) and Catalan events promoter, Santi Mas de Xaxàs, CEO and Founder of HuddleApp.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2016.

But, the year that the Bar at Rafa legend began to kick into high gear was 2006, when the likes of Charlie Trotter, Norman Van Aken, Tetsuya Wakuda and Don Alfonso Iaccarino were all at Madrid Fusión.  That year, I arranged to meet them all–three of the chefs with their significant others with them, along with star Spanish food journalist, Juanma Bellver–at the Bar at Rafa for some stellar shellfish tapas, a bit of bubbly and some conversation. 

 

  Gerry Dawes, Tetsuya Wakuda, Rochelle Smith, Livia Iaccarino, Janet Van Aken, Charlie Trotter and Norman Van Aken.  Photo by Don Alfonso Iaccarino.

Casa Rafa would be the first stop, then we were going on to Sergi Arola’s new place.  Still, between the plates of jamón Ibérico de bellota, gambas rosas, salpicón de mariscos and Champagne, we managed to run up an impressive bill.  

Norman Van Aken pulled out an American Express Platinum card and tried to pay the bill.  Charlie Trotter trumped him with TWO American Express Platinum cards, then Tetsuya Wakuda pushed them both aside and plopped down his American Express BLACK card and paid the bill. 

 Spanish journalist Juanma Bellver, the late Charlie Trotter and his great friend Chef Norman Van Aken at the bar at Marisquería Rafa.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2006.

Over the years, with or without celebrity chefs in two–more often it is talented foreign journalists who join me on these jaunts–Casa Rafa had become one of my favorite places in Madrid.  Usually with friends, sometimes alone with my friend Rafa Andrés, drifting in and out as he fulfills his duties as maitre’d and cashier, I corner one or more of the half dozen seats at the small bar and the parade of superb quality product-driven begins.

The All-Star Food Gallery at Casa Rafa

(All photos copyright 2017 by Gerry Dawes; gerrydawes@gmail.com)

 Rafa Andrés, who owns Rafa with his cousin Miguel Angel Andrés Poyo, alternates between being Chef and running the front of the house.  Miguel Angel with a plate of gambas rebozadas with romesco sauce (deep-fried, tempura-like battered shrimp).

 Rafa Andrés at the bar with his prized salpicón de bogavante, lobster melange in vinaigrette.

 Rafa's salpicón de bogavante, lobster melange in vinaigrette.

Employee at Rafa shows off a huge centollo, spider crab.

Ham cutter at Casa Rafa slicing a jamón Ibérico de bellota (ham from acorn-grazed pigs) from Joselito in Guijuelo, Salamanca.

Plate of Jamón Ibérico de bellota (ham from acorn-grazed pigs) from Joselito in Guijuelo, Salamanca at Casa Rafa.

 My long-time friend Gabriella Llamas at a table on the sidewalk terrace at Casa Rafa having the house ensaladilla Rusa (Russian potato salad with ventresca de bonito, bonito belly tuna), which has been proclaimed one of the ten best ensaladillas in Spain. 

 Zamburiñas (small scallops with their coral, the delcious orange part that is always stripped away in America), tapas bar hopping with four great friends in Madrid, Juan Suárez, former Madrid Fusión Director Esmeralda Capel (she retired), Gabriela Llamas and British journalist Harold Heckle, at Marisquería Rafa, Sept. 10. 2019.

Almejas a la marinera, superb clams in a light sauce, at Marisquería Rafa.

 Boquerones en vinagre, fresh anchovies dressed in vinegar and oil at Marisquería Rafa.

 Percebes, prized Galicia goose barnacles, that taste of the essence of the sea, at Marisquería Rafa.

Rafa's salpicón de langostinos, exceptional prawns in vinaigrette.

 Espardenyas, rare "Royal" sea cucumbers, from Catalunya, an expensive and prized delicacy in Spain, at Rafa.

 Angulas, baby eels caught in estuaries in northern Spain, another rare, expensive and legendary Spanish delicacy at at Marisquería Rafa.

 American journalist Arthur Bovino doing justice to his share of angulas, baby eels caught in estuaries in northern Spain, another rare, expensive and legendary Spanish delicacy at Marisquería Rafa.
 

  Fried salmonetes, excellent small red mullet, at Marisquería Rafa.

 Langostinos cocidos, steamed prawns, at Marisquería Rafa.


 
  Exquisite gambas rosas de Denia at Marisquería Rafa.

 Exquisite gambas rosas de Denia at Marisquería Rafa done on the plancha grill with sea salt.

  Exquisite gambas rosas de Denia at Marisquería Rafa done on the plancha grill with sea salt.

 

  A pair of exquisite gambas rosas de Denia at Marisquería Rafa done on the plancha grill and served on a brick of sea salt.

My fiancee Kay Balun with a pair of exquisite gambas rosas de Denia at Marisquería Rafa done on the plancha grill and served on a brick of sea salt.

It is not all seafood at Casa Rafa, mollejas de cordero (lamb sweetbreads), served with a bottle of Décima, a lovely Ribeira Sacra Mencía-based red wine made by my friend José Manuel Rodríguez, an artisan grape farmer-winemaker, who is the only viticulturist in Spain who is the President of his denominación de origen (Ribeira Sacra).

Chuletas de cordero, baby lamb chops with fried potatoes at Casa Rafa, also with a bottle of Décima.

My long-time friend, Juan Suárez, lives near Rafa and sometimes meets me at the bar for a glass of vino and a tapa or two.   Even though Marisquería Rafa is one of the best seafood restaurants in Madrid, it is still somewhat of a neighborhood hangout in the well-to-do barrio beyond Madrid's Retiro Park.

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.

 

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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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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 

The Docsconz Chronicles on Food, Wine Adventure Travels in Spain with Gerry Dawes

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Wining & Dining Around Spain with Gerry Dawes

A Six-part Chronicle

by John Sconzo 

Dr. John Sconzo, aka Docsconz, writes and photographs one of the most important gastronomy and travel blogs in the world.  John is indefatigable and covers more ground than anyone we know.  It has been a great privilege showing him Spain on multiple occasions.  This is just one of three extensive trips (and numerous shorter excursions) that we have taken together.

  

 Gerry Dawes, John Sconzo and Aldea Chef-owner George Mendes at Casa Botín, Madrid

(To read each full article, click on the link.)
 

Wining and Dining Around Spain with Gerry Dawes: Part 1 -- Valencia and Alicante 

I have said this before and I’ll say it again, nobody knows Spain like Gerry Dawes. I sincerely doubt that there is another American, and very few, if any, Spaniards can approach, let alone surpass his knowledge of the people, food, wine and culture of Spain."

 

Gerry con una caña y Fondillón at Bodegas Salvador Poveda, near Alicante.

Wining and Dining Around Spain with Gerry Dawes: Part 2 – Ribera del Duero & Rueda 

 With a four day stop in Madrid for Madrid Fusión 2015 now history, it was time to begin the next leg of the trip.  Galicia was the part of Spain that I hadn’t yet been to that I most wanted to visit. It would be the main focal point of the trip as we squeezed a ton of tasting both food and wine into a very abbreviated time frame. It would not be our first stop, however.

Wining and Dining Around Spain with Gerry Dawes: Part 3 – North By Northwest

I used to think way back when, that Spain was all about red wines, but then I had my first Spanish whites, which happened to be from Galicia. My view changed in a hurry and I came to realize that Spain is full of excellent white wines, yet, Galician whites remained my favorites.  

Wining and Dining Around Spain with Gerry Dawes: Part 4 – Rapturous Ribeira Sacra
 

Vineyards are inherently beautiful and I am never less than enthralled with a visit to one, but despite visits to gorgeous vineyards in France, Italy, Germany, the United States, Chile, South Africa and elsewhere in Spain, I was unprepared fo the unparalleled gorgeousness of Galicia’s mountainous Ribeira Sacra region.

 

    

  Gerry Dawes showing off one of his wine finds

Wining and Dining Around Spain with Gerry Dawes: Part 5: Loving and Leaving Galicia

While I don’t know how the street food octopus was, I suspect it was pretty darn good. However, once again, Gerry knew what he was talking about. At the quaint, unadorned Pulperia El Dorado, the boiled pulpo Gallego was sublime and as delicious as I have ever had anywhere. Bathed in quality Spanish olive oil and pimentón, it was supremely tender and full of flavor. Snipped into manageable bites, I couldn’t resist going back for more and more. This is the kind of cooking one hopes to find along one’s travels – authentic, of the area, expertly prepared and consummately delicious – something that can’t quite be repeated as such anywhere else.  

  

Pulpo a la Gallega at Pulperia El Dorado, O Barco de Valdeorras

 Wining and Dining Around Spain with Gerry Dawes: Part 6: A Night in La Rioja

Sunday nights in small town Spain are generally quiet affairs and it was no different in sleepy San Asensio as we followed our GPS through dark, empty streets and alleys to reach Bodegas Lecea, perched high on one of the area’s many hills, in what appeared to be one of the older areas of the town in a neighborhood called “Barrio de las Cuevas” or “Neighborhood of the Caves” named for the proliferation of wine caves underneath. We were greeted at the large, heavy door by Luis Alberto Lecea, the winemaker/owner of Bodegas Lecea, who escorted Gerry, Bill and I upstairs to a cozy, fire-warmed apartment at the back of the winery. Lecea was in the process of making dinner to share with us – a typical, delicious meal of tortilla Española with bread, embutidos, and, of course, wine. Posts with more trips with Gerry Dawes and Docsconz to follow. 

Experience Gerry Dawes's Adventures in Spain: Unique Customized Culinary, Wine, Cultural & Photographic Tours for You, Family, Friends and Colleagues

Read More Adventures with Gerry Dawes & Docsconz here (coming soon). 

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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

 

Gerry Dawes & Docsconzo Insider’s Jamón Ibérico, Extremaduran Cheese, Andalucian Seafood, Sherry & La Mancha Tour of Spain Nov. 9 – 20, 2016

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Florencio Sanchidrián, Spain´s greatest cortador de jamones, demonstrates his unique style of cutting Jamón Ibérico de Bellota at his restaurant, Rincón de Jabugo in Ávila.  Photo Gerry Dawes©2015.

 Including the great cities and towns of Madrid, Segovia, Ávila, Salamanca, Cáceres, Mérida, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz, El Puerto de Santa María, Jerez de la Frontera, Sevilla, Córdoba, Toledo, and Chinchón

$4,995 per person; $5,995 single supplement
(without airfare)

For booking and info e-mail gerrydawes@aol.com
Phone: 914-414-6982

Tour led by Gerry Dawes & John Sconzo (Docsconz) 

Gerry Dawes with Ibérico pigs in La Dehesa de Extremadura.  
Photo: John Sconzo©2015

 John Sconzo and his son, L. J. on a hill overlooking Segovia's famous Alcázar and Cathedral on our pilot trip for out November Pig Tour of Spain.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014.

 2000-year old Roman aqueduct at Segovia.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014.

Kay Balun, John Sconzo and L. J. Sconzo with cochinillo, roast suckling pig, at Mesón del Candido, Segovia.  Photo by GerryDawes©2014.

(More photos to follow!)

Day 00, Wed., Nov. 9 USA to Madrid Flights to Madrid.

Day 01, Thurs, Nov. 10 Madrid 

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 cutter-he travels the world showing how these hams should be cut-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 visit a couple of very special places for drinks and tapas, then have dinner at one of John Sconzo’s new discoveries in Madrid, La Buena Vida.
 

Day 02, Fri, Nov. 11 Madrid – Segovia – Avila – Salamanca
 

From Madrid, we will drive up into the Guadarrama Mountains to Segovia, the roast suckling pig capital of Spain and home to an amazing 2,000-year old Roman aqueduct that still crosses the city.  For lunch, we will have exceptional cochinillo, roast suckling pig, so it can be cut it with the edge of a plate, in a restaurant that has been a must visit for celebrities and just plain folks for decades. 

After lunch we will drive less than an hour to visit the amazing Medieval walled town of Ávila, then move on to spend the evening in the historic university city of Salamanca, whose Plaza Mayor (main square) is the most beautiful in Spain, and just sample an order of tostón, roast suckling pig with crackling skin and other non-pig regional specialties.  (You may recognize the Plaza Mayor square in Salamanca from the 2008 movie Vantage Point.)
 

Day 03, Sat, Nov. 12 Salamanca – Guijuelo – Hervás – Casar de Cáceres – Cáceres – Trujillo 218 kms. 3 hrs.
 

We will spend a little time in the morning seeing some of Salamanca and visiting the market, then head south through the major pig town of Guijuelo, where we will stop to visit  one of Spain's top jamon Ibérico producers, then travel south, stopping off to visit historic Hervas (an old Jewish town), arriving in to the monumental medieval city of Cáceres, where we will have lunch and sample the sensational local Torta del Casar  and Torta de la Serena ewe’s milk cheeses.  

After lunch we will take a walking tour the old quarter of Cáceres, before moving on to the important nearby hilltop town of Trujillo, hometown of Pizarro (conqueror of the Incas) and Orellana (the first European to make the 2400-mile trip down the Amazon).  Trujillo has a major cheese fair every year in May and producers here make great goat cheeses, including Ibores.  In Trujillo, we will take a break from pig and have some roast goat and try other regional specialties.
 

Day 04 Sun, Nov. 13 Trujillo – Montánchez (secador and pigs) – Mérida (Roman ruins) 2 bus hours
 

What an exciting day we have in front of us! After a walk around picturesque Trujillo, the next stop is Montánchez, an incredible hilltop town, where we will sample the prime hams from this village and visit a hermitage with stunning views. We will push on to Mérida, one of the best preserved Roman cities in Europe. The Roman bridge across the Guadiana River, a superb amphitheater and arena, the Raphael Moneo-designed Roman Museum and the well-preserved remnants of this important Imperial city are scattered all over town. (One shop in this city has the figure of a Roman Centurion whose shield is an Ibérico ham.) 

We will stay in a lovely converted palace on the main plaza in Mérida (excellent evening lollygagging territory) and within an easy stroll of all the major Roman ruins. This afternoon will be free to relax, tour the Roman monuments, stroll across the river on a pedestrian-only Roman bridge and in a nearby restaurant sample grilled cuts of pork from Ibérico pigs.
 

Day 05 Mon, Nov. 14 Mérida –  Fuente de Cantos - Jabugo – Sevilla 4 hours bus with several stops
 

We will leave Merida in the morning, stopping off for visit to a farm that produces foie gras by natural, not by gavage (forced feeding) methods (Chef Dan Barber has written about this place), then make a short visit to Jerez de los Caballeros, the evocative and picturesque hometown of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa (discoverer of the Pacific Ocean) and De Soto (explorer of the Mississippi River).  By lunchtime, we will arrive in Jabugo, the jamón Ibérico capital of the Andalucía. We will tour a jamón processing plant and have lunch there on some of the best pig products in the world.
 

After lunch, we will arrive in Sevilla, the city of Carmen and one of the most beautiful and evocative cities in Europe.  After checking into our hotel, we can relax until early evening when Gerry Dawes will lead a walking tour of this stunningly pretty city where he lived for nearly six years.  We will sample tapas in a few places, then sit down in a particularly good tapas bar for some grilled shrimp, fried fish (an Andalucian specialty) and other special tapas, including, no doubt, a plate or two of Ibérico ham.
 

After the tapas tour, there will be the option of going with some native Sevillanos to an authentic flamenco joint.
 

Day 06 Tues, Nov. 15 Sevilla - Sanlúcar de Barrameda 1 hour+  
Bus Driver Free Day, Alternate Transportation to Sanlucar
 

In the morning, we will have a guided tour of the Cathedral and the Moorish fortress-palace El Alcázar, the Barrio de Santa Cruz (the old Jewish quarter), do some strolling and shopping, then travel south to the superb fishing and Sherry town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where Columbus set sail on his second voyage to America.  We will prevail upon one of Gerry’s friends to open his old sherry bodega and let us taste some of his exceptional manzanilla sherries, then we will have lunch at a beachfront restaurant with more manzanilla, grilled shellfish and some of the best fried fish in the world.  Hopefully, we will see one of Sanlucar's spectacular sunsets from the legendary Bajo de Guia fisherman's beach with a glass of manzanilla in hand (more on this later). In the evening, we will have free time to enjoy the Plaza del Cabildo and environs, which has some of the best tapas bars and restaurants in Spain.
 

Day 07 Wed, Nov. 16 Sanlúcar de Barrameda – Cádiz – El Puerto de Sta. Maria - Sanlúcar de Barrameda 2 hours bus and ferry, round trip.
 

Market breakfast in Sanlúcar market, then to El Puerto de Santa María, where we will visit and taste in another Sherry bodega, then get the ferry to Cádiz in the morning, visit this wonderful sea-surrounded peninsular city and its unique market, have lunch in Cádiz, then back to El Puerto by ferry.  We will return to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a 20-minute ride, then have a free, relaxing afternoon, before we return to El Puerto de Santa María at the sensational Aponiente Restaurante, where Chef Angel León is doing some of the most creative, innovative seafood based dishes anywhwere.   We will return to Sanlúcar for an optional nightcap and a relatively early (for Spain) end to the evening.
 

Day 08 Thurs, Nov. 17 Sanlúcar de Barrameda – Pueblos Blancos – Ronda – Córdoba 350 kms. 4 ½ hrs. with several stops.
 

We will leave Sanlúcar in the morning and drive east through the spectacular Pueblos Blancos, the white hilltop villages of Cádiz and Málaga provinces, some of which are cheese villages, visit a great mountain cheese producer, then have lunch in the spectacular city of Ronda, which is set astride a 300-foot gorge that splits the town in two.   After lunch, we will take a brief walking tour of Ronda, then drive to Córdoba, where we will tour the Mezquita (once one of the great Mosques in the world, which is so huge that it has the Christian full-sized cathedral built into the middle of it) and the Roman bridge.
 

We will wander the labyrinthine streets of the old the old Jewish and Moorish quarters, one of Spain's finest old quarters, have some free time for shopping.  In the evening, we will gather in the lobby of or hotel, then take a short walk to a very special Cordoban taberna, where we will have fried eggplant strips along with two kinds of salmorejo (a thick gazpacho that is at its best here).  We will also sample the excellent jamón Ibérico from the up-and-coming Pedroches ham region north of Córdoba, then move to another colorful local restaurant for some churrasco (grilled pork loin) or steaks and some good red vinos.
 

Day 09 Fri, Nov. 18 Córdoba – Toledo 4 hours with stops
 

In the morning, we will tour more of Córdoba, relax a bit, then have an early lunch at Chef Paco Morales’s Noor, which specializes in modernized dishes based on Hispano-Moorish tradition drawn from Córdoba’s illustrious past as one of the great capitals of the Moorish world (rivaling Damascus).   After lunch, we will ride via La Mancha, land of Don Quixote, stopping briefly for refreshments at Puerto Lapice (where Quixote spent a night guarding his armor and refreshments and at Consuegra (ridge-top castle and a dozen windmills) and end up in the historic city of Toledo. 
 

In Toledo, we will visit El Cigarral de Santa María, which has spectacular views over the properties on vineyards, olive trees and the city of Toledo below.  The owner, whom Gerry calls the Emperor of Toledo is a major chef-restaurateur.  After the visit, we will check into our hotel, then take a walking tour of old Toledo, have some free time, and gather for a creative tapas dinner at Colección Adolfo, the Cigarral owner’s tapas restaurant near the Cathedral and we will visit his restaurant group’s magnificent wine cellar underneath what was a Jewish home in the 9th century.

Day 10, Sat, Nov. 19 Toledo – Aranjuez - Chinchón  70 kms.
 

We will take a guided tour of Toledo in the morning, visit the historic home of the great painter, el Greco, the two great synagogues and the Cathedral, then ride 30 minutes to Aranjuez, where we will lunch in one of the top restaurants of the region.  After lunch, we will ride another 25 minutes to the enchanting city of Chinchón, where we will check into a charming hotel just a block from Chinchón's legendary Plaza Mayor, one of Spain's best restored and loveliest plazas, which is like a page out of the 16th Century.  Our group will have the rest of the afternoon free to explore this magical village and shop for unique local items.
 

We will have dinner at La Balconada overlooking the charming Plaza Mayor. At this romantic restaurant, Chef Manuela and her husband Isidro, offer superb classic Castillian dishes, including more pig (roasted) of course, but with the option of having roast lamb, wood-grilled steaks, bean dishes, fried potatoes with "broken eggs," artichokes cooked with jamón Ibérico bits, bean dishes and other specialties, accompanied by simple D.O. Madrid (province) Rosado and red wines. We can linger over snifters of the town's famous Anis Chinchón licor (dry or sweet), watch the peregrinations of the people down in the plaza and reminisce about the high points and comedic episodes of our trip around Spain.
 

Day 11, Sun. Nov. 20 Chinchón – Barajas Airport – USA 
50 kms.

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About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes is the Founder-President & Jefe of The Spanish Artisan Wine & Spirits Group - Gerry Dawes Selections, representing some of the finest small artisan grower-producers in Spain.      


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 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