La Comida Española: Spanish Food

As mentioned in my previous post, Sandra's family has three restaurants: La Casa de las Pulgas, El Real, and La Marina. El Real and La Marina are in the Plaza Mayor (Main Square) of Salamanca, which is ground zero for tourism. Think the Union Square of San Francisco or Pike's Place of Seattle, except that it's a huge public square where everyone comes to eat, and it's the number one attraction. Having a restaurant on the Plaza Mayor is a big deal as there are only about 10 restaurants. Having 2 is an even bigger deal. Here's a briefing on the three restaurants.

La Casa de las Pulgas: The first restaurant they had. It serves mostly locals and has very traditional Spanish food. I've come to learn that the Spanish palette is very traditional and most people don't like new exotic foods. Sandra's dad has never tried Chinese food for example. This restaurant easily has the best food of the three but is a little bit removed from the Plaza Mayor. For this reason, it is more frequented by locals.

El Real: The second restaurant. This place is an establishment in Salamanca and has been operating under the name El Real for 50+ years. Everyone in Salamanca knows what it is. They serve very typical Spanish pinchos and the restaurant has like 60 tables on the plaza. This thing is pretty much full all day in the summer. 

La Marina: Newest acquisition made in June 2014 and next door to El Real. This place focuses on seafood like Pulpo a la Gallega. This is slighly more upscale than El Real since it's seafood and it only has about 40 tables. 

After having spent the last two and a half weeks eating at all three of the restaurants, I thought I'd put together a little slide show on Spanish cuisine. You'll notice that it's heavy on seafood given it's proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. I will also say that the quality of meat is much better than in the United States. Spanish culture clearly puts more emphasis on eating, and it shows in their food. 

Entrantes: Appetizers

Gazpacho: cold soup of pureed tomato, onion, bell pepper, garlic and cucumber usually served with croutons. Normally eaten during the summer 

Sepia a la plancha: Grilled squid.

Pulga: Super secret family recipe that has like 30 ingredients. Only two people in the world know the recipe. This was the pincho that inspired the restaurant "La Casa de las Pulgas." The difference between a tapa in a pincho is just where you are in Spain. Seems weird to me though that although in Salamanca they call them pinchos, the verb to go eat pinchos is "tapear."

And the inside. It's a crispy outer crust with a soft filling.

Ensalada de piña y langostinos: Pineapple and prawn salad with thousand island dressing.

 Ensalada de fresas y bolitas de queso: Strawberry and goat cheese salad.

Ensalada de pulpo y manzana: Octopus and apple salad. I know octopus sounds weird, but it tastes great.

Pulpo a la Gallega: Literally galician octopus. Boiled octopus with rock salt, olive oil, and paprika. Tastes better than it sounds.

Platos fuertes: Main Courses

Tabla de carne: Meat platter. So many kinds of meat on here: chorizo, pork chops, bacon, panchetta, etc with peppers (not spicy), tomatoes, and grilled potatoes.

Solomillo al jerez: Tenderloin with sherry. Family recipe that is amazing.

Paella: The classic with prawns and clams

Lechazo: Lamb leg. This thing was massive.

Chuletillas de cordero: Lamb chops

Solomillo: Sirloin Steak

Huevos rotos con jamón: Over-easy eggs with ham and potatoes

Bocadillo de jamón con tomate: Ham sandwich with tomato.

Coque de queso: Flat bread with cheese. No tomato sauce. You also get a crazy hammer thing to cut it.

Solomillo: Sirloin... again. It's good okay. Don't judge me. 

Merluza a la plancha con ajo: Grilled hake with garlic

Postres: Desserts

Some sort of chocolate dessert that was amazing. I could have pictures of flan, arroz con leche, cheese cake, etc... but I just have this one to represent desserts. Desserts are a much bigger deal in Spain and it seems like they are mandatory after lunch, which is the biggest meal of the day. It is also extremely common to follow up dessert with coffee. 

Helado de fresas: Strawberry icecream

Alright, we'll I'm stuffed. I'm going to go take a 2 hour siesta. 

Wanted to give a shout out to my cousin William. Keep it real bruddah.