Tapas and hygiene?
 

Heard that tapas are laid out all day, near smokers. So they are left in room temperature after being made once as opposed to constantly being made fresh?

Would this be the case in general in bars or would establishments which specialize in tapas be better as far as making them several times during the day?

How about places such as those listed here?

http://www.downtown-barcelona.com/do...odanddrink.asp

Tapas and pintxos are generally served twice a day, at noon and again in the early evening, the exact time will depend on where you are. They do not sit out all day in the places where I've been, but are brought out when it is time for them to be served. As a general rule, they don’t last long once the crowd arrives and have to be constantly replenished.

Tapas and pintxos come in two styles, served cold, or hot. Hot pintxos in the Basque Country are not prepared until they are ordered.

many tapa toppings are sitting in refrigerated displays on long flat platters.
under glass usually.

i would only avoid mayonaisse in a small town.. in summer, because i think most places in big cities now use the non-egg version.

but yes.. there are platters of things sitting out for a couple hours sometimes once cooked, but in most cases they are refrigerated.

yes they are laying around for a few hours...I have never been sick though. I think that only the fried or grilled stuff is made to order and then they are called 'raciones' as opposed to tapas or pinxos.

Enjoy the tapas, most nights I dont even go for dinner after eating a few rounds.

"yes they are laying around for a few hours...I have never been sick though"

So people should guide their lives and make their decision based on your personal experiences?

I always thought that the word "raciones" meant a larger serving than a tapas-size serving. Can one of the Spain experts please clarify? Thanks!

Clodius, I think that's the idea of this forum! LOL

clodius, we can only offer our own experiences.

there is no single correct answer to most questions asked on this forum.

Do avoid the mayo in small towns. . . Also, if there is a bar or restaurant described as "cutre," skip it. That word has no English translation, but means roughly: grimy, gross, lame, etc. . . my friends and I go to "bares cutres" to get cheap beer, and sometimes get raciones but would not eat the tapas.

The website you have lists some great places. Els 4 Gats is delicious, but very expensive. Definitely a splurge meal there, and I do not remember tapas. Mussol is a good place. Traditional Spanish food, good meats, nice fish. If you want to try reliable and fabulous tapas, go to La Tramoia on the SW corner of Gran Via and Rambla Catalunya. I always take visitors to eat there and have yet to be let down. If you can, get the fruit kebabs with crema quemada and chocolate for dessert, then just waddle home.

So avoid the mayo and raciones should be cooked to order?

Here are some more places from roughguides.com. Can't post a specific url:
============

Eixample and Gràcia
ba-ba-reeba, Pg de Gràcia 28 tel 933 014 302; Metro Passeig de Gràcia. One of an array of establishments recently opened on Passeig de Gràcia which cater for all your needs from breakfast to supper time, including a big range of tapas. Open daily 7.30am–3am.

Els Barrils, c/d'Aribau 89 tel 934 531 091; Metro Hospital Clinic. Lavish, expensive tapas bar specializing in seafood and cured meat. Open 9am–2am; closed Tues, and first two weeks in July.

El Berriketa, Gran Via 596; Metro Universitat. New Basque-run establishment with well-made and reasonably priced (€0.90–1.20) tapas. Daily 9am–1am.

La Bodegueta, Rambla Catalunya 98; Metro Passeig de Gràcia. Long-established basement bodega with cava by the glass, a serious range of other wines, and good ham, cheese, anchovies and pa amb tomàquet to soak it all up. It gets very crowded – you may have to stand to snack, or take a seat outside on the Rambla. Open daily 7am–2am; closed mornings in Aug.

Cervecería Catalana, c/Mallorca 236 tel 932 160 368; Metro Passeig de Gràcia. Excellent tapas lined up along two bars, a good choice of beers and a small terrassa. Open daily 7.30am–1am.

Gran Bodega, c/Valencia 193 (at c/d'Aribau) tel 934 531 053; Metro Passeig de Gràcia. Traditional marble-tabled bodega where the wine fumes waft out to greet you; tapas and sandwiches available. Open daily 7am–1am.

O'Nabo de Lugo, c/Pau Claris 169; Metro Diagonal. Pricey Galician restaurant with a separate, excellent tapas bar. Open Mon–Sat 1–4pm & 8.30pm–midnight.

Quasi Queviures, Pg de Gràcia 24 tel 933 174 512; Metro Passeig de Gràcia. Choose from a large range of tapas at the bar and then buy your cheese or cold meats at the other counter. Open daily 7.45am–2am.

This is a great place for tapas that no one will every list. It is a neighborhood place right under my apartment. In fact, I don't even know the name, but it is easy to find.

Metro Universitat. Take Ronda Sant Antoni to Sepulveda and go right. Stay on that sidewalk and you will hit some tables and chairs outside. Inside you will see wine casks and people. it is the first place you hit. Eat there and enjoy. The tapas are great!

Funny you mention hygiene. Someone recently told me (I have no idea if it is true) that tapas were invented as a small top to put on your glass of wine to keep the flies out!

Tapas are fresh to order. Spainish tapas places are some of the cleanest places I have been! (yes, trash is thrown on the floor) I have never heard of cigarette smoke messing with tapas. People there enjoy their life and are passionate about their food. Very few tapas places I have been are in a haze of smoke, even though people are smoking. Enjoy the tapas experience! (if one doesn't like the sight of or whiff of smoke, have tapas in the hotel room)

suze- that is not true, though it is sort of close to the origin of their name: tapas comes from putting a piece of bread on top of the food "para taparla" (to cover it up).

Flies generally don't go for wine, especially with tapas around. maybe that is what they were talking about. . .

Oh, and if a tapas place doesn't smell at least lightly of smoke it is either realy expensive or a total tourist trap.

If I were you I would personally ask the tapas cooks if they usually wash their hands after using the bathroom!!!!Or to put a camera there. You would control, what you call "hygiene". Does this bother you less than smoke???? Frankly!!!

Oh, forgot to add I have a wonderful non touristic place for tapas in Barcelona but can't recommend it to you. I actually smoked a lot while I was there....

wco81:

Are you planning a trip to Spain?

Tapas are small (a bite or two) and raciones are indeed a little larger. I guess it is a better investment for the bar to cook to order something that they can charge more money for. Sepia a la plancha and chipirones are my absolute favorites.

Many of my friends that have visited Spain get very discouraged when they go to a bar and see all the stuff on the floor (napkins and cig butts), it can be a culture shock. This is just as common for breakfast as for tapas time.

Most places where I have seen tapas uncovered, the turn over is so quick that the plates are not sitting there for long.

Re: trash on the floor, after 10 days in southern Spain I have concluded that this is far preferable to leaving used napkins on the table. As a waiter, I would rather sweep up garbage than have to grab it with my hands from the table (hands, by the way, that then proceed to serve food!)

I always thought of Tapas as what they serve you in a taberna with the drink you order. Sometimes, in Madrid, they will ask you what you prefer (anchoas or boquerones, for example). If you want more, you order media ración or una ración. They'll set out palillos so you can share your ración. In Madrid, you are normally not charged anything for what comes with your drink. In other parts of Spain (Sevilla, for example) you don't get anything with your drink. You must order tapas or raciónes or whatever.

Marigross: are you from Cantabria? I had the greatest chipirones and sepia a la plancha in Santander (on c/Palacios)

thanks laclaire for the clarification, bread covering food... OK then
:-)

Yes sssteve, I'm going to Barcelona end of this month.

What are sepia a la plancha and chipirones?

What's in them?

I wonder what the heck kind of place I went to in Granada? When we ordered drinks at the bar, the bartender first gave us drinks that started cooking little appetizer-like things. With the first beer I got a little ham w/ melted cheese on a little roll. The next beer came with a tostada-like thing. The following beer came with a Quesadilla. After that we got prawns/shrimp, more ham, fish (I passed on that) and finally something similar to a White Castle burger. The bartender didn't write anything down. He just kept puring and cooking. When we were ready to go we just paid for the booze. At the time I assumed this was tapas but based on everyone else's experiences I must've been enjoying something else.

laclaire...

the story of tapas' origin in andalucia as first a plate to protect wine from fruit flies ... then the plate being populated with small bits of food is well known. do you have an alternative version because this is the only story i have ever heard. maybe it is legend but it seems well accepted.

ah ha! so i was right after all? ;-)

thanks walkinaround, you made my day.

That was my understanding too---protection from fruitflies, not houseflies.

I'm still trying to picture "bread on top of the food" as some kind of protection from what?

We were at a tapas round when the dishes were placed on the bar and within an hour most were gobbled up.

I believe everything my host parents tell me without questioning, and they told me the bread thing. Now maybe I get to call my host dad and tell him he has to do better research. . . we always make 25 cent bets and I always lose, so maybe I can make a winning one with this new info!

I can believe the fruit fly story. When they invade here, as eggs or larvae in bananas I'm told, I put a little bit of red wine in a brandy snifter. In the morning they have all gathered. Some have perished in the wine and others are standing on the rim. Repeat the process for the renegades.

I did the rounds of tapas bars in San Sebastian in January. My favorite was Txalupa on Fermin Kalbeton Kalea just off San Juan Kalea, more of a square than a street. I went back a second time to make sure.

laclaire- do let us know what you find out ;-)

My hostdad sent me these links:

http://www.calidalia.com/index.php/g.../view/full/494

http://rt001hvb.eresmas.net/esp-mains/origen.htm

http://www.directoalpaladar.com/arch...-las-tapas.php

http://www.arrakis.es/~jols/tapas/index.html

where there are variations on the origins of tapas. And has he says:

"Yo sé casi olo que tú: que están buenísimas."

(I know as much as you do: that they are really good!)

Ned, even though I love Spain with all my heart, I am from Puerto Rico.

Zeus, that was tapas you had in Granada - they just do things a bit differently there!

Many tapas bars there operate just as you've described, with a different (and usually better) tapa being offered with each round of drinks you order.

You can also order raciones or media-raciones (which you pay for) in most of these bars, but the great thing is that the little tapa-sized portions are free.

One place I used to go to there was legendary - you had to order about 8 rounds of drinks to make it to the "top" tapa - a plate of fried squid and shrimp. After that you started back at the beginning with ham on bread.

There used to be another tapas bar in Granada (might still be there) where, each time you ordered a drink, you also ordered your free tapa from a menu of Greek and Mediterranean dishes - e.g. mini pitta bread with hummous, mini portion of stuffed vineleaves, mini meatballs in sauce...

It was very easy to survive in Granada on a student budget (though I do remember having to drink a lot of beer in order to get the tapas that went with it!) :D