Bilbao and the Basque Country Restaurants

Bilbao and the Basque Country Restaurant Reviews

Basque cuisine in and around San Sebastián and Bilbao combines the fish of the Atlantic with a love of sauces that's rare south of the Pyrenees—a result, no doubt, of Euskadi's proximity to France. The now 30-year-old nueva cocina vasca (new Basque cooking), originally inspired by the Basque Country's neighbors to the north, invented light, streamlined versions of classic Basque dishes such as marmitako (tuna and potato stew). Traditional San Sebastián specialties include chuleta de buey (garlicky beefsteak grilled over coals), and firm, flaky besugo a la parrilla (grilled sea bream) covered with crisped garlic. Around Bilbao, bacalao al pil-pil is ubiquitous—cod-flank fillets cooked in a boiled emulsion of garlic and gelatin from the cod itself so that the oil makes a popping noise ("pil-pil") and a white sauce is created. Other favorites are kokotxas (nuggets of cod jaw) and pimientos de piquillo (sweet red peppers stuffed with tuna or cod).

Navarra is famous for beef, lamb, and vegetable dishes, including menestra de verduras (a stew of artichokes, green beans, peas, lettuce, potatoes, onion, and chunks of cured ham). La Rioja has meaty stews and roasts in the mountains and vegetable dishes in the Ebro River basin.

The local Basque wine, txakolí, is young and white, made from tart green grapes. It is a refreshing accompaniment to both seafood and meats. La Rioja, south of the Basque Country, produces many of the finest wines in Spain; purists insisting on Basque wine with their Basque cuisine could choose a Rioja Alavesa, from the north side of the Ebro. Navarra also produces some fine vintages, especially rosés and reds—and in such quantity that some churches in Allo, Peralta, and other towns were actually built with a mortar mixed with wine instead of water.

Don't miss any chance to go to a sidrería, a cider house (in Astigarraga, near San Sebastián, there are no fewer than 17), where tortilla de bacalao (cod omelet) and chuletas de buey (garlicky beefsteak grilled over coals) provide traditional ballast for copious drinks of hard apple cider.

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