Tag: wheretoeat

Postcard from Leon, Spain: Regional specialties to ‘Best Burger in Spain’

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A colorful Spanish postage stamp featuring a flower design made of various food items, celebrating León as the Capital of Gastronomy in 2018.

Above: A generous serving of cecina, thinly sliced cured beef, at Casa Divi.

As do most cities in Spain, Leon prides itself on its regional specialties, many involving meat. The meats of the Castilla y Leon region are indeed delicious, but sometimes we did seek out a few workarounds. The following are the spots we visited, listed in alphabetical order.

A slice of golden-brown savory pancake on a decorative blue and white floral plate.
Above: Tortilla de patatas from Bar El Gallinero.

Never had we spent such a long period in Spain without a classic egg and potato tortilla. To remedy that, Lamar researched where to find the best one in the city. To do that he had to go to a bar, Bar el Gallinero. Open only at night and about as popular a spot on the tapa circuit as you can find.

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Postcard from Paris, France: Chefs blur borders

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Illustration of a chef's hands arranging a plate with colorful vegetables and a small dish, featured on a French stamp labeled 'Gastronomie'.

Above: Mushroom tarte at Pristine

People who do not accept the new, grow old very quickly.”

A Guide to Modern Cookery, Auguste Escoffier, 1907

We’re already old. We arrived at this stage in but the blink of an eye and certainly have no desire to accelerate the aging process. This is the excuse I offer for not sticking to French food in France.

My hero chefs are those unafraid to pluck ingredients and fuse ideas from many cultures. The evolutionary development of European cuisine as a whole has been speeding along ever since those first traders sailed eastward to discover an explosion of spices and westward to find revolutionary crops – such as tomatoes and cacao.

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