justretired

My husband and I are leaving for a 2 week trip to Spain in early September. We often travel to France and Italy and have visited Spain once before. On that trip (Madrid and Andalucia), we found that eating dinner out was difficult because of the late hours. In Italy and France, they also eat late, but restaurants open earlier, even if the only diners are out-of -towners.. My DH and I find starting to eat at 10:00 PM just not possible. I am not being critical of other cultural styles, but still, it is difficult for us, perhaps because we are tourists getting up early or perhaps we are just too old to digest so much right before bedtime. We also find that we do not take siestas on our trips, largely because we find our too far from our B&B or apartment at that time. Even now that we have discovered a slower way of travel and rent houses or apartments, we find that we are not at the rental at nap time.

In preparing for this trip (San Sebastian in an apartment rental with some British friends and Madrid, Salamanca, and Segovia), I have done extensive reading. Many of you suggest eating the larger meal at lunch and having tapas for dinner. I think this is a great suggestion, although our limited experience with tapas was that it is very greasy and hard to digest.

So, question – what have you done on trips to Spain and do any of you have suggestions of restaurants that open earlier in the cities of our trip? Thanks.

danon

"although our limited experience with tapas was that it is very greasy and hard to digest."

??????
there are a zillion different tapas in different regions of Spain. Not to worry.

janisj

"<i>our limited experience with tapas was that it is very greasy and hard to digest. </i>"

That makes no sense to me -- at all. What do you consider "tapas"? They aren't any single item - or even similar types of things. Tapas can be ANYTHING from a small plate of olives, to meatballs, to calamari, to potatoes, to prawns, to mussels, to empanadas, to you name it

justretired

Thanks, danon. Just to elaborate a bit on what Margie wrote: we generally found the <i>tapas</i> in Andalucia to be heavy on meats and sausages. Even the Spanish idea of that most lo-cal of foods, shrimp, is <i>gambas al ajillo</i>, which is drenched in oil or even butter. Now, I actually <i>like</i> all these dishes, but it gets to be too much night after night for dinner. I had a hard time finding low-fat protein among the tapas selections. The best selections for me were the shellfish selections, but Margie has a shellfish allergy, the topic of another thread:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...y-171320-2.cfm

Of course, the region we'll be visiting this time, in the <i>pais vasco</i>, is renowned for its cooking, and perhaps we'll have more alternatives. We'll also be in an apartment, so although I think we'll generally have a lunch out (wherever we are on that day's day-trip), it will be easier for us to cook a small dinner in.

- Larry

CathyM

I don't think you have to worry about the quality of tapas in San Sebastian!

First of all, there will be pintxos - not tapas. Second, most of them are so beautiful and brilliantly constructed you are (almost) relunctant to eat them. They taste as incredible as they look.

Not sure where you ate tapas in your limited experience but it must have been extremely limited.

justretired

Thanks for the reply, Janisj. The context of Margie's remark on tapas was that we were trying to make what was offered into a <i>dinner</i>, and we had a hard time with it. Looking at the items you mentioned, for instance, Margie couldn't eat the calamari, prawns, or mussells. Olives are great, but more as an <i>hors d'oeuvre</i>. Meatballs are more on target, but are a rather fatty type of beef, not like a lean piece of steak. Empañadas are also pretty caloric. I don't recall much chicken, a staple for us at home, among the tapas. Margie reminds me that the really fatty luncheon meats were more in Madrid than in Andalucia.

We're not trying to make a bit deal out of this - we got along fine. But it did cause us to generally prefer France and Italy to Spain on the food front. Margie just thought that our Fodorite friends might have some tips to help us on the next trip.

- Larry

justretired

Ah, CathyM, now you've got my mouth watering.

- Larry

justretired

ACtually, the problem that I had with the tapas had to do with my insecurity about the preparation- as Larry said above, I started another thread about my shellfish allergy. In MAdrid, Seville, and Granada, the tapas bars were crowded and it was difficult to find out the exact prepartion of the samll tapas. Since i couldn't eat the shellfish, I was restricted.

How are pintxos different than tapas? I know that they are Basque specialties, but i assumed the difference was in the ingrediants and the preparation. It sounds like it is a major food group! cathy, you make it sound just wonderful. I guess I have to read some more before we leave in 3 weeks.

CathyM

This will also help:

http://www.todopintxos.com/home/home.php

I must have over 300 photos of just food from my trip to this area last fall!

If you do a search on San Sebastian in this forum you'll find all kinds of recommendations on specific places.

justretired

It sure doesn't look like we'll starve. What a choice. You'er right- we must have had a very limited experience with tapas.

Does one order pintxox from a menu or are they out to chose from?

Egbert

Most of the Pintxos in San Sebastian are not greasy.

CathyM

You can order from a menu, generally a chalkboard menu near the bar, or choose one already prepared and put out on the bar. Although some (usually more innovative pintxos) bars only have made to order pintxos.

Generally the made to order pintxos are better but the ones on the bar are so alluring you often can't wait!

Even the most non-descript little places crank out incredible pintxos....we even saw Juan Mari Arzak at our favorite little breakfast hole in the wall last year!

janisj

My list wasn't exhaustive -- just some examples. Of course she won't eat the seafood - but I didn't know about that when I posted (you provided that info afterwards)

So how about >>a small plate of olives, to meatballs, to mechada (sort of pot roast), to potatoes, to quail eggs, to sausages, to empanadas, pork, to you name it<<

But CathyM has you dialed in . . .

danon

there are a lot non-meat tapas : artichokes, peppers, beans, potato, mushrooms, spinach, plus salads and , of course, cheeses!

nytraveler

Well we eat at whatever time the locals do - early in Germany and Switzerland, regular hours (8 ish) in France and Italy and latish (10 )in spain. I can't eat a big meal in the middle of the day - since I then just want to go back and sleep it off - not go on with an active afternoon's sightseeing. Also, I don;t like drinking wine at lunch for the same reason.

That said, most cities and larger towns have a couple of tourist restaurant that will open early - perhaps at 8 or so - and you hotel should be able to help you find them. Sometimes these are ethnic places (Chinese or similar). As far as tapas we don;t usually do them because we do a real dinner - but have had them a couple of times. You need to choose the place carefully (yes, there are some cheap ones that seem to specialize in grease-fried olives) but the ones we were sent to had snacks that were quite good - with a nice selection of veggies, meats and seafood - and were not overly greasy (since by no means all are fried).

I would ask for specific recos at your hotel - they'll know the best local places.

jubilada

In making reservations for our upcoming trip to Barcelona, Costa Brava and Basque country we had no difficulty in making them for 9 pm.

kimhe

Here are pictures and descriptions of some of the pintxos on offer in San Sebastián: http://www.todopintxos.com/pintxos/pintxos.php

If you fall for the Basque kitchen - and you probably will - I recommend you to visit Txirimiri in one of Madrid's best tapas districts in and around Calle Cava Baja. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...ri-Madrid.html

Excellent and also light tapas at the two bars in the northern end of the all day open San Miguel food market, just off Plaza Mayor. http://theurbanfoodie.blogspot.com/2...an-miguel.html

You should also try the excellent salmorejo, a somewhat thicker variant of the tomato/vegetable soup gazpacho, in Según Emma just behind the San Miguel market. http://11870.com/pro/segun-emma

And I never leave Madrid without having had the squid in its own ink and the fabolous cod (somewhat heavy) at Casa Revuelta, also in the same district (I think it opens at 7pm).
http://11870.com/pro/casa-revuelta

Aduchamp1

A couple of things:

Pinxtos is the Basque word for tapas.

In San Sebastian/Donostia they have pinxtos for breakfast.

I do not think I have ever had a printed menu a bar for pinxtos/tapas any where in Spain. It is common to write some of them on a mirror beyond the bar or somewhere but not on a printed menu. This is especially true for the sizes and prices of the seafood, which of course is an anathema to you.

If you are unfamilar you point and ask what it is. The selection in Donostia is vast and even though seafood abounds, you will be able to find many that are not.

I am not sure where you have eaten tapas but there are some dishes which are greasy because they are fried but most are not.

The best thing to do is tapas hopping. You go from one bar to the other eating their non-seafood specialty. There is no equivalent experience in the United States.
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In the larger cities such as Madrid it is easy to find food at all hours due to the tourists and the change of the Spanish lifestyle.

HappyTrvlr

The restaurants in the Paradors serve meals earlier than the normal Spainish dining hour of 10pm or later.

kimhe

I'm sure that someone might have had a cold pintxo or two for breakfast in San Sebastián, but the pintxos crawl mainly goes on from lunchtime (1-2pm) and from 7-8pm onwards. Sunday at lunchtime is almost a religious celebration of the txikiteo tradition (normally a group of friends go from bar to bar and have a glass and a pintxo at each place). So, pintxos for lunch on Sunday is a must do when in San Sebastián.

As aduchamp says, there are normally no pintxos/tapas menus in San Sebastián (other places in Spain there often are). The cold pintxos are on display in the bar, and you just serve yourself and tell the waiter at the end which you have had. Often the warm pintxos are listed on a chalk-board or something, or you just ask.

As a general rule, I would recommend the great value Menu del Día for lunch from about 1.30pm. Most restaurants in Spain have a three course and great value set meal (you can normally choose from 3-4 starters and 3-4 main dishes as well as a couple of desserts) with drinks incl. for some 8-15€. This might also give an urge for a short nap before going for pintxos/tapas at night.

One thing when you are in San Sebastián. Try the simple but extremely tasty Besugo a la parrilla (grilled sea bream with a garlic and vineger sauce). Costs a fortune, but ever since I tasted it the first time in the harbour of the neighbouring village Getaria in 1996, I have to have at least one besugo night when I'm in San Sebastián. They always do it perfectly in Casa Urola in the Parte vieja. http://www.restauranteurola.com/english/index.html

In Madrid, you'll find the equivalent of the Sunday txikiteo in San Sebastián in the "Hora del Vermut" on Sundays from about 1pm. Then "everyone" go tapas crawling in La Latina for a vermouth and a bite after the famous outdoor Rastro market. http://www.madrid-guide-spain.com/el-rastro.html