Sherry Primer - Part Two With Gerry Dawes - Bodegas Hidalgo Sherries

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Sherry Primer - Part Two

Explaining Sherries with poet Robert Balun. Tasting and descriptions of a range of Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana Sherries with Spanish wine expert, Gerry Dawes, Founder & Jefe of The Spanish Artisan Wine Group - Gerry Dawes Selections. (Hidalgo Sherries are imported by Classical Wines (Seattle, WA), not The Spanish Artisan Wine Group.) Gerry Dawes©2013; gerrydawes@aol.com

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes  

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

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 the subject of 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.

Sherry Primer - Part One With Gerry Dawes - Bodegas Hidalgo Sherries

* * * * *

  Sherry Primer - Part One 

Explaining Sherries with poet Robert Balun. Tasting and descriptions of a range of Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana Sherries with Spanish wine expert, Gerry Dawes, Founder & Jefe of The Spanish Artisan Wine Group - Gerry Dawes Selections. (Hidalgo Sherries are imported by Classical Wines (Seattle, WA), not The Spanish Artisan Wine Group.) Gerry Dawes©2013; gerrydawes@aol.com

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes  

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

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 the subject of 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.

Patatas a la Riojana, One of the Greatest Folk Dishes of Spain

 * * * * *

 

Vicenta Pérez Escarta, owner-chef at Casa Masip in Ezcaray, La Rioja

with a pot of patatas a la riojana, one of the greatest folk dishes of Spain.
  Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2012; gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.

A pot of patatas a la riojana, one of the greatest folk dishes of Spain, made 
by owner-chef Vicenta Pérez Escarta at Casa Masip in Ezcaray, La Rioja.

 Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2012; gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.

________________________________________________________________________

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 and won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004.  He 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. 

 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series  
n 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

Warning: Beware of Rental Car Deals That Seem To Good To Be True

A warning about rentalcars.com.  There prices seem to good to be true.  They are.  They have you pay up front for what looks like a great deal.  I reserved and paid for a car to pick up at the Vigo airport in Galicia.  I was told it would be Europcar and it was.  When I got to Vigo and went to the counter to pick up my car, the lady at Europcar was very nice and very apologetic. She informed me that there would be a $70+ airport pickup charge that had to be put on my credit card.  So I paid the normal price and got no deal at only.  Also, it is very easy to get upgrades to a better, bigger car this days, since all the car companies are getting stuck with cars that use more gas or deisel, so they are glad to give you one.  The catch is it will cost you a chunk more in gas money!

Plaza Santa Ana, Plaza Mayor, Goya's Madrid, John Dos Passos "Rosinante To The Road Again" (1922)

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"All the gravel paths of the Plaza Santa Ana were encumbered with wicker chairs. At one corner seven blind musicians all in a row, with violins, a cello, guitars and a mournful cornet, toodled and wheezed and twiddled through the "Blue Danube." 

At another a crumpled old man, with a monkey dressed in red silk drawers on his shoulder,  ground out "la Paloma" from a hurdygurdy. In the middle of the green plot a fountain sparkled in the yellow light that streamed horizontally from the cafés fuming with tobacco  smoke on two sides of the square, and ragged guttersnipes dipped their legs in the slimy basin round about it, splashing one another, rolling like little colts in the grass.

From the cafés and the wicker chairs and tables, clink of glasses and dominoes, patter of voices, scuttle of waiters with laden trays, shouts of men selling shrimps, prawns, fried potatoes, watermelon, nuts in little cornucopias of red, green, or yellow paper. Light gleamed on the buff-colored disk of a table in front of me, on the rims of two beer-mugs, in the eyes of a bearded man with an aquiline nose very slender at the bridge who leaned towards me talking in a deep even voice, telling me in swift lisping Castilian stories of Madrid. 

First of the Madrid of Felipe Cuarto: corridas in the Plaza Mayor, auto da fé, pictures by Velasquez on view under the arcade where now there is a doughnut and coffee shop, pompous coaches painted vermilion, cobalt, gilded, stuffed with ladies in vast bulge of damask and brocade, plumed cavaliers, pert ogling pages, lurching and swaying through the foot-deep stinking mud of the streets; plays of Calderon and Lope presented in gardens tinkling with jewels and sword-chains where ladies of the court flirted behind ostrich fans with stiff lean-faced lovers.

Then Goya's Madrid: riots in the Puerta del Sol, majas leaning from balconies, the fair of San Isidro by the river, scuttling of ragged guerrilla bands, brigands and patriots; tramp of the stiffnecked grenadiers of Napoleon; pompous little men in short-tailed wigs dying the dos de Mayo with phrases from Mirabeau on their lips under the brick arch of the arsenal; frantic carnivals of the Burial of the Sardine; naked backs of flagellants dripping blood, lovers hiding under the hoop skirts of the queen. 

Then the romantic Madrid of the thirties, Larra, Becquer, Espronceda, Byronic gestures, vigils in graveyards, duels, struttings among the box-alleys of the Retiro, pale young men in white stocks shooting themselves in attics along the Calle Mayor. "And now," the voice became suddenly gruff with anger, "look at Madrid. They closed the Café Suizo, they are building a subway, the Castellana looks more like the Champs Elysées every day.... It's only on the stage that you get any remnant of the real Madrid. Benavente is the last madrileño.  Tiene el sentido de lo castizo. He has the sense of the ..." all the end of the evening went to the discussion of the meaning of the famous word "castizo."

The very existence of such a word in a language argues an acute sense of style, of the manner of doing things. Like all words of real import its meaning is a gamut, a section of a spectrum rather than something fixed and irrevocable. The first implication seems to be "according to Hoyle," following tradition: a neatly turned phrase, an essentially Castilian cadence, is castizo; a piece of pastry or a poem in the old tradition are castizo, or a compliment daintily turned, or a cloak of the proper fullness with the proper red velvet-bordered lining gracefully flung about the ears outside of a café.  

Lo castizo essence of the local, of the regional, the last stronghold of Castilian arrogance, refers not to the empty shell of traditional observances but to the very core and gesture of them. Ultimately lo castizo means all that is salty, savourous of the red and yellow hills and the bare plains and the deep arroyos palaces and belfries, and the beggars in snuff-colored cloaks and the mule-drivers with blankets over their shoulders, and the discursive lean-faced gentlemen grouped about tables at cafés and casinos, and the stout dowagers with mantillas over their gleaming black hair walking to church in the morning with missals clasped in fat hands, all that is acutely indigenous, Iberian, in the life of Castile."
 

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 prize in 2009 and received the Association of Food Journalists 2009 Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television
series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary 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@hotmail.com

John Dos Passos: A Tale of Madrid, La Plaza Santa Ana, Jorge Manrique, Pastora and Why We Love Spain!

 * * * * *

ROSINANTE TO THE ROAD AGAIN
Copyright, 1922, George H. Doran Company, New York
I: A Gesture and a Quest

Telemachus had wandered so far in search of his father he had quite forgotten what he was looking for. He sat on a yellow plush bench in the café El Oro del Rhin, Plaza Santa Ana, Madrid (see related story on Cervecerías in the Plaza Santa Ana), swabbing up with a bit of bread the last smudges of brown sauce off a plate of which the edges were piled with the dismembered skeleton of a pigeon. Opposite his plate was a similar plate his companion had already polished.  Telemachus put the last piece of bread into his mouth, drank down a glass of beer at one spasmodic gulp, sighed, leaned across the table and said:

"I wonder why I'm here."

 

Cervecería Alemana, Hemingway Hangout
Gerry Dawes copyright 2011

 

"Why anywhere else than here?" said Lyaeus, a young man with hollow cheeks and slow-moving hands, about whose mouth a faint pained smile was continually hovering, and he too drank down his beer.

At the end of a perspective of white marble tables, faces thrust forward over yellow plush cushions under twining veils of tobacco smoke, four German women on a little dais were playing Tannhauser. 

Smells of beer, sawdust, shrimps, roast pigeon.

"Do you know Jorge Manrique? That's one reason, Tel," the other man continued slowly.

With one hand he gestured to the waiter for more beer, the other he waved across his face as if to brush away the music; then he recited, pronouncing the words haltingly:

    'Recuerde el alma dormida,
    Avive el seso y despierte
    Contemplando
    Cómo se pasa la vida,
    Cómo se viene la muerte
    Tan callando:
    Cuán presto se va el placer,
    Cómo después de acordado
    Da dolor,
    Cómo a nuestro parecer
    Cualquier tiempo pasado
    Fué mejor.'

[O let the soul her slumbers break, 
Let thought be quickened, and awake;
Awake to see
How soon this life is past and gone,
And death comes softly stealing on,
How silently!
Swiftly our pleasures glide away,
Our hearts recall the distant day
With many sighs;
The moments that are speeding fast
We heed not, but the past,—the past,
More highly prize.]

"It's always death," said Telemachus, "but we must go on."

It had been raining. Lights rippled red and orange and yellow and green on the clean paving-stones. A cold wind off the Sierra shrilled through clattering streets. As they walked, the other man was telling how this Castilian nobleman, courtier, man-at-arms, had shut himself up when his father, the Master of Santiago, died and had written this poem, created this tremendous rhythm of death sweeping like a wind over the world. He had never written anything else.

They thought of him in the court of his great dust-colored mansion at Ocaña, where the
broad eaves were full of a cooing of pigeons and the wide halls had dark rafters painted  with arabesques in vermilion, in a suit of black velvet, writing at a table under a lemon tree.
Down the sun-scarred street, in the cathedral that was building in those days, full of a smell of scaffolding and stone dust, there must have stood a tremendous catafalque where lay with his arms around him the Master of Santiago; in the carved seats of the choirs the stout canons intoned an endless growling litany; at the sacristy door, the flare of the candles flashing occasionally on the jewels of his mitre, the bishop fingered his crosier restlessly, asking his favorite choir-boy from time to time why Don Jorge had not arrived.

And messengers must have come running to Don Jorge, telling him the service was on the point of beginning, and he must have waved them away with a grave gesture of a long white hand,while in his mind the distant sound of chanting, the jingle of the silver bit of his roan horse stamping nervously where he was tied to a twined Moorish column, memories of cavalcades filing with braying of trumpets and flutter of crimson damask into conquered towns, of court ladies dancing, and the noise of pigeons in the eaves, drew together like strings plucked in succession on a guitar into a great wave of rhythm in which his life was sucked away into this one poem in praise of death.

    Nuestras vidas son los ríos
    Que van a dar en la mar,
    Que es el morir....

Telemachus was saying the words over softly to himself as they went into the theatre. The orchestra was playing a Sevillana; as they found their seats they caught glimpses beyond people's heads and shoulders of a huge woman with a comb that pushed the tip of her mantilla a foot and a half above her head, dancing with ponderous dignity. Her dress was pink flounced with lace; under it the bulge of breasts and belly and three chins quaked with every thump of her tiny heels on the stage. As they sat down she retreated bowing like a full-rigged ship in a squall.  The curtain fell, the theatre became very still; next was Pastora.

Strumming of a guitar, whirring fast, dry like locusts in a hedge on a summer day. Pauses that catch your blood and freeze it suddenly still like the rustling of a branch in silent woods at night. A gipsy in a red sash is playing, slouched into a cheap cane chair, behind him a faded crimson curtain. Off stage heels beaten on the floor catch up the rhythm with tentative interest, drowsily; then suddenly added, sharp click of fingers snapped in time; the rhythm slows, hovers like a bee over a clover flower. A little taut sound of air sucked in suddenly goes down the rows of seats. With faintest tapping of heels, faintest snapping of the fingers of a brown hand held over her head, erect, wrapped tight in yellow shawl here the embroidered flowers make a splotch of maroon over one breast, a flecking of green and purple over shoulders and thighs, Pastora Imperio comes across the stage, quietly, unhurriedly. 

In the mind of Telemachus the words return:

    Cómo se viene la muerte
    Tan callando.

Her face is brown, with a pointed chin; her eyebrows that nearly meet over her nose rise in a flattened "A" towards the fervid black gleam of her hair; her lips are pursed in a half-smile as if she were stifling a secret. She walks round the stage slowly, one hand at her waist, the shawl tight over her elbow, her thighs lithe and restless, a panther in a cage.

At the back of the stage she turns suddenly, advances; the snapping of her fingers gets loud, insistent; a thrill whirrs through the guitar like a covey of partridges scared in a field. 

Red heels tap threateningly.

    Decidme: la hermosura,
    La gentil frescura y tez
    De la cara
  
    El color y la blancura,
    Cuando viene la viejez
    Cuál se para?

She is right at the footlights; her face, brows drawn together into a frown, has gone into shadow; the shawl flames, the maroon flower over her breast glows like a coal.

The guitar is silent, her fingers go on snapping at intervals with dreadful foreboding. Then she draws herself up with a deep breath, the muscles of her belly go taut under the tight silk wrinkles of the shawl, and she is off again, light, joyful, turning indulgent glances towards the audience, as a nurse might look in the eyes of a child she has unintentionally frightened with a too dreadful fairy story.

The rhythm of the guitar has changed again; her shawl is loose about her, the long fringe flutters; she walks with slow steps, in pomp, a ship decked out for a festival, a queen in plumes and brocade....

    ¿Qué se hicieron las damas,
    Sus tocados, sus vestidos,
    Sus olores?

   ¿Qué se hicieron las llamas
    De los fuegos encendidos
    De amadores?

And she has gone, and the gipsy guitar-player is scratching his neck
with a hand the color of tobacco, while the guitar rests against his
legs. He shows all his teeth in a world-engulfing yawn.

When they came out of the theatre, the streets were dry and the stars
blinked in the cold wind above the houses. At the curb old women sold
chestnuts and little ragged boys shouted the newspapers.

"And now do you wonder, Tel, why you are here?"

 

__________________________________________________________________________________

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 prize in 2009 and received the Association of Food Journalists 2009 Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary 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@hotmail.com

José Andrés with a gintonic at The Bazaar by José Andrés at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills

 

* * * * *

José Andrés with a gintonic at The Bazaar by José Andrés at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. 

Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2012 
_______________________________________________________________

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

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. 

Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in December 2009 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.

  Trailer for a proposed reality television series on 
wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Web Pages:


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

Adventures in Spanish Taste: Insider's Food, Wine, Cultural and Photographic Travel in Spain

The Traveling Gastronomer: A Celebration of Food, Wine, Life, Photography & Quixotic Musings

The Spanish Artisan Wine Group-Gerry Dawes Selections

Gallery of Chefs & Food Personalities: Portraits by Gerry Dawes
 
Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com.
 

Pedroches D.O. (Córdoba) jamón Ibérico cutter Clemente Gómez & Francisco 'Paco' Castro (l), venenciador for the DO Montilla-Moriles at Madrid Fusión 2013 Cutting & Pouring for VIPs

* * * * *

I am just back from one Hell of a trip to Spain, at Madrid Fusión 2013, where I introduced on stage Chef George Mendes of New York's Portuguese and Spanish influenced Aldea Restaurant; shared abrazos to some of Spain's top chefs such as Quique Dacosta, Albert Adrià, Martín Berasategui, David Muñoz (Restaurant DiverXo, Madrid), Dani García, Paco Torreblanca, Sergi Arola, María José San Román, Paco Torreblanca; sat by my old friend the legendary Godfather of modern Spanish cuisine, Juan Mari Arzak, at dinner at Esmeralda Capel (a director of Madrid Fusión); and hung out with Colman Andrews, George Semler, John Sconzo and his son El Jay.  

Had a blast with George Mendes and one of his chefs, Mitch Barr, dragging them to all my old favorite down home places such as Casa Lucio, La Castela and Casa Botín, having carabineros at El Mercado de San Miguel and Canary Islands papas arrugadas con mojo verde y mojo rojo (classic Canary Islands "wrinkled" potatos cooked in salt water and served with a green cilantro-olive oil-and garlic based sauce and a spicy red mojo sauce) at El Escaldón, taking in Flamenco at Café de Chinitas and late night gintonics with George Mendes, George Semler, writer Lisa Abend, CIA's Anne McBride and Starchefs.com Caroline Hatchett.   

Turned on George Mendes, Doc Sconzo, a passle of Colombian foodies and others to the wonderful jamones Ibéricos from my buddy, Clemente Gómez, the expert ham cutter for the Pedroches (Córdoba) D.O. and having Paco Castro, the official venenciador pour glasses of the wonderful Montilla-Moriles D.O. fino from a height for my friends.  That was just the first four days, then the road trip began (more to come). 

Francisco 'Paco' Castro (l), venenciador for the DO Montilla-Moriles,
and my great friend, Clemente Gómez (right), ham cutter for Pedroches hams,
at the Pedroches (Córdoba) stand at Madrid Fusión 2013. Photo by Gerry
Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.

 

Slide show of Pedroches D.O. (Córdoba) jamón Ibérico cutter Clemente Gómez & Francisco 'Paco' Castro (l), 

venenciador for the DO Montilla-Moriles at Madrid Fusión 2013 Cutting & Pouring for VIPs 

 ________________________________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes  

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

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 the subject of 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. 

 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on 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.

Another Exceptional Lunch at El Crucero in Corella (Navarra) with the Wines of Carlos Aliaga, Jan. 28, 2013

 * * * * *

Aliaga Lágrima de Garnacha Rosado 2012 at El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra). 
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter. 



 Chicória (chicory) salad with diced apples, moscatel raisins and the house's 
own extra virgen olive oil, El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra).  
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.



Cardos, or cardoons (chard) with a special touch, granada (pomegranate seeds) and 
the house's own extra virgin olive oil from Navarra, El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra). 
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.


 Superb, heavenly bacalao with peppers and tomatoes.  El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra).  
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.


 Cabrito (roast kid) with patatas panaderas (classic baker's style potatoes)  
and the wines of Carlos Aliaga at El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra). 
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter. 

 
Torrijas, the Spanish equivalent of French toast, but better, and helado de turrón (turrón almond ice cream) 
with salsa de arándanos (sloe berry sauce) at El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra). 
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.


Slide show from lunch at El Crucero, the wines of Carlos Aliaga and his Aliaga vineyards (Double click to enlarge).
_________________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes  

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

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 the subject of 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. 

 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on 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

Café de Chinitas, One of Madrid's Best Classic Tablaos Flamencos

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Victoria Duende, one of the stars at Madrid's Café de Chinitas, also danced at Corral de la Morería in Madrid. 
Victoria Duende was born in el barrio de la Macarena in Sevilla and 
began to study dance at age 3 under the great Matilde Coral. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter. 


Diego Llori Trujillo (http://www.diegollori.com), world-renowned dancer, 
during his stylized flamenco dance performance at Madrid's Café de Chinitas. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.


Flamenco performance by Verónica Naranjo at Madrid's Cafe de Chinitas. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter. 


 
Slide show of the performances at Madrid's Café de Chinitas (double click to enlarge).

________________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes  

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

Gerry Dawes writes, publishes his photographs and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain.  He was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003.

In December, 2009, Dawes received the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a tribute written by José Andrés, The James Beard Outstanding Chef in 2013.

Dawes 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. 

". . .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. 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on 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

Prelude to another great luncheon at one of my favorite restaurants in Spain, El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra): Full Report to Follow

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Olives, house cured fresh anchovies and beer before an wine tasting luncheon 
with Carlos Aliaga at Nabor Jimenez's El Crucero Restaurante, Corella (Navarra). 
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.

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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. 

Dawes 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, James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef 2012. 

". . .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.
 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on 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.

Casa Lucio in Madrid with Aldea NYC's Georges Mendes, Peruvian-Italian chef Rafa Rodriguez, Colombian chef Jorge Rausch & Colombia Ministry of Commerce Rep. Ximena Hernandez,

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Casa Lucio Jan. 21, 2013. George Mendes, Aldea NYC, Anne McBride (Culinary Institute of America) y amigos. Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.

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Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003.

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. 

 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

 

Chef George Mendes of NYC's Aldea Restaurant takes in a flamenco performance at Cafe de Chinitas in Madrid after a day at Madrid Fusion 2013.

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Chef George Mendes (foreground) of NYC's Aldea Restaurant takes in a flamenco
 performance at Cafe de Chinitas in Madrid after a day at Madrid Fusion 2013. 
 Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.

 
Slide show (double click to activate.)

Madrid Fusión 2013: Super Star Chefs Dani García of Calima in Marbella and Manzanilla NYC with his mentor Martín Berasategui

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Dani García of Calima in Marbella and Manzanilla NYC 
with his mentor Martín Berasategui at Madrid Fusión 2013.
 Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.

My Profile of George Mendes for the Madrid Fusión 2013 Book with Photos

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Chef George Mendes, Aldea Restaurant, New York City
by Gerry Dawes©2013

Aldea Restaurant NYC's George Mendes with Juan Mari Arzak at Madrid Fusión 2013.

Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter. 

My profile of George Mendes for the Madrid Fusión 2013 Book

    Chef Georges Mendes, Chef-partner at Aldea restaurant, a highly regarded temple of modernized Portuguese and Portuguese colonial influenced food, fondly remembers being raised by his Portuguese parents who immigrated to the United States and settled in Danbury, Connecticut.  Good food was always a key element in the culture of his family.

    “Before I went on what would become a momentous high school field trip to The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York (50 miles west of Danbury), I already had an afición for cooking.  At home, I had a lot of exposure to good food from my mom and my dad.   Our holidays always revolved around big feasts of Portuguese dishes for up to 30 of our family members.   During my youth, I was always surrounded by a lot of good cooking.

    During that trip to The Culinary Institute, I thought “Wow!, this is a profession,  something I might like doing.  The atmosphere of with all the kitchens, the kitchen heat, the bustling movement and being under pressure attracted me.”  

    Shortly after high school, he enrolled at The Culinary Institute.  After graduating in 1992,  Mendes’s first job was at the classical French cuisine Stonehenge restaurant (Ridgefield, CT), then he trained with a top New York chef, Ed Brown at Tropica.

    “At Stonehenge, we were being taught the very heavy, butter-and-cream laden dishes of classic French cuisine, which are important, but with Ed Brown, I learned about pristine, really fresh seafood.”

    One Sunday, Mendes attended a cooking class conducted by star New York chef David Bouley and Roger Jaloux, chef at Paul Bocuse restaurant in Lyon. 

 

George Mendes, Aldea restaurant, New York.
 Photo by Gerry Dawes©2012. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com.

 
    “At that class, I saw the really hard-core professionalism of a kitchen brigade.  I was impressed with how beautiful and masterfully prepared the food was.  So, after a year at Tropica, I did a Saturday night stage at Bouley restaurant and was offered the a job at the amuse bouche station, where I worked from 1994 to 1996. 

    During that time, I was sent to Paris to do a two-month stage with Chef Alain Bassard at Arpege.  Having classic experience in my pocket already, then going to Paris and staging at a three-star Michelin restaurant was incredible.  Just being in Paris, I discovered the culture of refined French cooking.  Alain Bassard was just taking off with the vegetable movement and really intense game dishes. L’Arpege had a huge impact on me.   I learned the importance of vegetables and the quality of ingredients, which was something I had not really seen in the U.S. ”  

     Mendes later staged at Le Moulin de Mougins under Roger Vergé, but it was a stage with Spanish Basque chef Martín Berasategui that would have a profound impact on him.

Martín Berasategui and George Mendes, Madrid. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2012. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com.

 
     “Martín ran a very hard and rigorous kitchen, but I was impressed with the quality of his cocina de vanguardia, his interpretations of dishes and his understanding of flavor.  He came from his family’s Bodegón Alejandro in San Sebastián’s old quarter, where his mother had a big influence on his cooking sensibilities.  I started thinking about the similarities we had in growing up in families immersed in food culture.  

     My experience with Berasategui helped me reflect on what kind of chef I wanted to be.  I only staged with Martín for a month, but it was really intense.  I doesn’t take very long to absorb lessons when immersed in that kind of atmosphere, working 12-15 hours a day with a maestro like Martín.   My stage at his restaurant was my introduction to not only cocina de vanguardia, but flavorful, honest cooking with a backbone.  That’s why I love Martín’s cooking.  Lunch at Martín Berasategui on my last day with the dishes that I had only seen in the kitchen was one of the most memorable meals of my life.

    Later, in 2006, I did a stage with Ferran Adrià at elBulli and that was a continuation of cocina de vanguardia, but at a whole different level.  With Ferran, it was a ‘no rules’ philosophy:  Have an open mind, be inspired by global flavors and don’t be afraid to take risks. Ferran took cooking to another level.  

    I came back to New York in 2006 and knew I wanted my own place where I could cultivate my style, but I did not yet have the backing, so I took a sous chef’s job at Toqueville, which turned into almost three years of executing someone else’s ideas.  But, it gave me time to reflect on where I came from and what I wanted to do.  My time at Toqueville also cultivated the seed of understanding the restaurant business, customers’ needs and how to run a restaurant.”  

    Then, George Mendes says he met Adam Haber, who wanted to back his dream, which became Aldea restaurant in New York City.  At Aldea, Mendes decided to do his own signature cuisine.

    “I decided to use some Spanish cocina de vanguardia techniques, but with the most emphasis on Portuguese culinary roots and ideas, including those of Portuguese colonies around the world.  That is where Ferran Adrià comes into the picture.  ElBulli was in Catalunya, but you might be served several Japanese-influenced dishes, several with Mediterranean-influences and a broad range of globally derived dishes.  When I opened Aldea, it was labeled a so-called “Iberian” restaurant, but although there is a major focus on Portugal, ideas were drawn from a very broad map.  I also go back to fact that the Portuguese were seafarers who discovered many sea routes.  We brought the exotic spices from India to Europe.

    Like the Portuguese Age of Discovery, I think my career from my teenage years, going to culinary school, working in a wide range of restaurants, traveling and being able to discover different styles of cooking, is a reflection of my Portuguese ancestry and inspires a culinary style that resonates with me.”