Restaurant Elx

     If you were to ask anyone around the world what they thought a “Spanish” food was, undoubtedly they will utter the word “paella”. Unless you are talking to an American, who will excitedly burst out into a rant about how they love “burritos”, “tacos”, “gorditas”… etc, none of which are Spanish. However, Americans tend to think Mexican food is essentially what they serve in Spain, much like Australia is exactly like England, and the Canadian and French cultures are twin sisters. I know I am generalizing here, but is has happened to me too many times for it not to be somewhat true. How about the time I told someone in LA I was Spanish, and they proceeded to tell me how much they love Cancun. Yet, I digress.

     Paella has become to Spain what pasta is to Italy and hamburgers are to the United States. A culinary beacon that is supposed to exemplify a culture, a people and a society. Paella in truth is a Valencian invention. For the best paellas in Spain, and the world, one must go to the Valencian Autonomous region and sit in any restaurant of Castellon, Valencia or Alicante. Catalans do not make paella, nor are they very good at trying to, but just as there are tourists in Madrid and Seville, Barcelona has had to cater to the tastebuds of the weary tourist that MUST have their paella. Insert Restaurant Elx.

     The name Elx is the Valencian translation of Elche - a city in the southern Valencian region, province of Alicante, where paella is touched by the Gods. Valencian transplants created the Restaurant Elx institution years ago on Paral.lel street in southern Barcelona. It still is there, and is a cozy environment on a tiny street, decorated in crimson and burgundy. Two years ago the owners decided to expand and opened another branch on the docks next to the Maremagnum Mall, in the Port Vell District. This restaurant not only serves the best paella dishes in the city - it serves up one of the best dining experiences in general. Once you get past the gritty cargo docks and fishing trolleys, a completely glass enclosed restaurant greets you. The high walls and floor to cieling windows give Restaurant Elx a lofty ambience, where you can sip your Rioja or Cava, eat your paella, and watch the seagulls skim the top of the Mediterranean. This restaurant is well worth the trip. However, be mindful the waiter staff is typically Catalan, which means… not overly nice. The waiters are dry and abrupt, and will particularly shun your table if you act like a drunk tourist who assumes everyone speaks English.

Enjoy!

Restaurant Elx - Maremagnum, Local 9, Moll d’Espanya 5 [Metro L4 (Barceloneta)]

                                                                          

  

Mirablau Bar

     If you have traveled to Barcelona and never been “to the top” of the city, you haven’t appreciated the best thing the city has to offer. Views. Taking Carrer Balmes all the way to the top, it ends at the foot of a trolley car station on Avenida de Tibidabo. This Avenida is still almost entirely cobblestone with majestic mansions on each side of the road. At one time these were all private homes, and now house banks, modeling agencies and the odd restaurant. One such restaurant is the Asador de Aranda which is an absolute MUST if you like lamb chops, and want to eat in a gorgeous three-level home filled with mosaics and amazing views of the city.

     As you wind your way up Avenida de Tibidado it ends in a small “plaza” where you can take the funicular to Tibidabo church. However, this can be done at a later time. If there is thunderstorm forming on the horizon, and the clouds are beginning to roll in off the Mediterranean, stop into the Mirablau bar which hangs over the side of the cliff as if it were to roll into the valley below at any given moment. The top floor contains a long bar with stools all along the wall overlooking the view, and on hot days, the entire wall is slid open to reveal the sultry winds filtering up from the pine trees below. Take a seat, order an Estrella beer, and enjoy views of the entire city of Barcelona, from the airport to the south, Montjuic hill directly in front of you, the twin towers of the Port Olimpic and the meandering coastline of the maresme to the north. At your feet the city of Barcelona bubbles up and down as the buildings all seem to be competing for a bit of sunlight, and the narrow avenues of the Gothic Quarter seem to act like strings holding all the bubbles into a confined area. On stormy days, sit back with your beer and watch lightning rods play hop-scotch over the city as though they were skipping over the amalgamy of color and life below. For a moment you can feel alone, watching the interplay between nature and human activity, as an independent observer high above it all nestled among the swaying pines.

Carrer Maria Cubi

     I find that 95% of those that go to Barcelona either on vacation or for a semester abroad - tend to focus on the Ramblas area of the Gothic Quarter during their nightly drinking rituals. I just want to make something very clear to people arriving in Barcelona. NO ONE from Barcelona parties on the Ramblas! If the locals won’t - why should you, right? Right.

     With the advent of the low cost carrier, namely easyjet, Ryanair, Berlinair, etc… Barcelona has been fortunate [or unfortunate] enough to have experienced an insane influx of Brits and other northern Europeans that have decided BCN is the ideal weekend escape. Most of these “northerners” come for Stag or Hen parties, end up drunk for three days straight, pee and puke all over the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona - and then leave. Not to offend my northern friends, as I am sure that many out there come to Barcelona to lead respectable holidays, it is just what I have experienced.

     At any rate, although the Ramblas is a gorgeous part of town, and should be walked during the day to experience the amalgamy of color, the pet shops and the architecture, there are other places in the city to experience the night. One such place is a street named Maria Cubi, a few blocks north of Diagonal road, between Aribau and Plaza Francesc Macia. The street is mainly in the Sant Gervasi area of the north part of town. And guess what - you will be hard pressed to find ANY tourists! I must warn the weary traveler, however, that if you are in the mood for some Gaudi-esque night experience sipping halluconegenic absynthe on the terrace of some mosaic-filled-bizarre-shaped building, Carrer Maria Cubi is NOT the place. This is the north part of town - and this is where the rich kids go, so the ambience will be fun, young and maybe a bit stuffy. Do not wear sneakers and throw a Ralph Lauren polo shirt over that Abercrombie cut-off tee-shirt. You will then be good to go.

     The fun part about Maria Cubi is that it is a long street with bars back to back on either side of the street. None of the bars have cover charges and they are all decorated differently. The highlight of the street is called Bar Universal, which is housed in what once was a large private two-story home. The club/bar was recently redecorated and offers an upstairs non-smoking area with large white faux-leather chairs, as well as pop music, while the downstairs thumps trance and house music and allows patrons to smoke. If you pretend to speak Catalan and are very well dressed, the bouncer will not charge you a cover. Otherwise, you may have to pay. I never have… but I digress.  ;)

     These bars close pretty early [for Spain] around 2:30-3:00, but then everyone migrates to Carrer Aribau where there ar at least 5 megaclubs back-to-back in a ritzy part of town. Some of these include Luz de Gas and Get Back. You will have fun at any of these places but I need to stress that they are a bit cheesy and play horrible pop music. However, if you have had enough to drink by 3 - you will have a blast. Lastly, on Carrer Lincoln, there is always the iconic Otto Sutz Club which was recently revamped and is very cool. Carrer Lincoln is a very small and narrow street, so you may have to ask for directions, but once inside the industrial chic layout, you can dance your bum off to hip-hop, 80’s or house… depending on the room you decide to enter. There is also a VIP area but it is quite small and the drink prices will make you think you are in Tokyo or Hong Kong - but you’re not! 

     Drink, dance and be safe!

El Xalet de Montjuic

     Normally I would not recommend a restaurant that tends to draw a lot of tourists. But here I shall make an exception. If anything so that you can admire the stunning views that this restaurant captures. The relatively new El Xalet Restaurant sits atop the Montjuic hill where almost all of the sporting events took place during the Olympics in 1992. Just down the street from El Xalet is the Olympic pool where water polo and diving took place, and further down is The Miramar Hotel which recently opened after an impressive renovation of the old state-owned television headquarters building.

      The food at El Xalet is inventive and unique, but it is NOT the best food in the city. This is not to say that it is not good food - it is just not as impressive as other restaurants in the same group, such as Tragaluz in the Eixample District. El Xalet is a restored farm house that sits on a ledge overlooking the entire city of Barcelona and the Tibidabo Hills in the background. At night, or at sunset for a drink, it will take your breath away. Not to mention that the lower floor of the restaurant is a huge space where the tables sit on a rotating floor. In essence, everyone in the restaurant can take advantage of the view. Most importantly, El Xalet has valet parking. This is a rarity in Barcelona, and as an L.A. native - a HUGE draw! Gracias El Xalet for thinking of us Los Angelenos, who believe walking more than two blocks is simply a bore.

     El Xalet

     Avinguda Miramar, 31 

Palau Dalmases

     One of my favorite streets in Barcelona can be found in El Born. El Born is an area of Barcelona nestled in the Gothic Quarter that for centuries was the home of the town fishermen, and other laborers that called “the sea” their employer. Over recent years El Born has transformed itself from a dark and smelly part of the Gothic Quarter to a super trendy area of upwardly mobile trendsters or tremendously wealthy bourgeois bohemians. Flats in this part of town that at one time could not be given away, now set you back a cool million [in dollars] for a top floor apartment with partial views, in most cases no elevator and NEVER an underground parking structure. The area is almost entirely pedestrian now so flat owners usually have to trek deep into the area after leaving their cars in rented spaces at parking garages outside the district.

     Dissecting El Born from the Passeig del Born to Carrer Princesa is Carrer de Montcada. This street is also pedestrian and begins just behind the grand Santa Maria del Mar Church before making its way to the longer and car-friendly Carrer Princesa. The street is gothic in its purest form and steeped in mystery. At one end of the street stands the Picasso Museum which during the day is seiged by mobs of tourists. Along the same route are a Textile Museum and a Mercantile Museum. All of these museums are housed in old palaces dating back centuries. Prior to El Born being the hub of fishermen, it was where the wealthy built grandiose palaces, seemingly plain and boring from street level, but grand and impressive once inside the enormouse wooden doors. Every private palace had an interior courtyard, probably filled with ferns and geraniums each struggling for the sparse rays of sunlight that filtered their way onto the stone floored interiors.

     Once such palace is called “Palau Dalmases” [Dalmases Palace - in Catalan] probably after the family that called it home for generations. Walking along Carrer Montcada at dusk one can see the metal basket like shapes still stuck in the stone walls just above eye level, that at one time served as torches lighting the street for passerby’s. Indentations in the stone road and along the walls depict centuries of tread by carriage, cars, bicycles or mopeds. One nondescript door stands on the left hand-side if you are heading north after leaving Passeig del Born. Most often the door will appear closed OR an old man will be sitting just inside the door with the door slightly ajar. If you peer in he will speak to you in a low whisper, inquiring in a coarse Catalan, what it is you are looking for. The right answer of course if that you want to have a drink. The bar owners strictly disallow tourists from enterting just to take a picture. If you walk in be prepared to pay. And the prices are steep as well. However, you are paying for the ambience.

                                                                    

     As you make your way through the wooden door the central courtyard opens up in front of you and a spiral staircase lies just to the right in the corner of the inner patio. You can imagine young children sitting on each stoop, staring at you through the crevices of the stone pilars, as they probably once did centuries ago. To the left the flickering glow of candles entrances you and draws you towards glass walls. Inside the lower rooms, the only ones open to the public, candelabras and chandeliers take up almost every corner of the walls and ceilings. Plates of fruit and gaudy gold-leafed cherubs reach out to you from every table top. The smell of old wood, damp stone, sherry and decades of tobacco smoke whirl around your head making you have to sit down after a few minutes.

     On Thursday evenings a local opera troupe sings for free as you sip your cognac or dry sherry. Few locations in the world can take you back to an era of kings, horses, chivarly and opulence as this place does. Cheers.

     Carrer Montcada, 8

     El Born - La Ribera, Barcelona

Spanish-American Intellectual Property Attorney Strangely Obsessed with 1960’s French Pop Singers

Hi all!

I am the spawn of an American father and a Spanish mother - having grown up between Los Angeles and Barcelona.

I am currently residing in Los Angeles, after having lived for (3) years in Barcelona working as a trademark and copyright associate. Prior to that, I had lived off-and-on in Barcelona either going to school, working as a fashion model 0r translating for a start-up data-mining software company. Yes, you are right - there is no rhyme or reason to my life…

In California trying to figure out whether the law is really my passion - and constantly missing the stone arches and warmth of one of the most beautiful cities on earth - Barcelona, Spain. 

- Please feel free to send me comments regarding any questions or concerns you have about Barcelona, Andorra or Spain in general - barcelona62@hotmail.com …. -

Happy Travels! 

Ryan 

God Save the King!

My mother and I watched the Latin American conference video feed of the encounter between the devil of Venezuela [Hugo Chavez] and our king [Juan Carlos de Borbon]. We are so proud! 

Its such a shame that a country with so much natural wealth has been devastated for so long - and now they allow themselves to believe that a peasant from the country with no formal education will actually not be corrupt - and spread the wealth all around. I do feel for them - but his oral attack on Zapatero (although I dont like the guy) using historical comparisons to fascism is both sad and low class. Again, he probably never studied how many thousands of people died during the Spanish Civil War, and during the Franco regime.

My mother said the confrontation between Juan Carlos and Hugo Chavez reminded her of when the king was the only man standing - at the front of parliament - in 1982 - when members of the Spanish military ran in shooting, attempting to stage a coup d’etat. Juan Carlos said “this will not happen again - so please leave”. And they did.

In general I am not a monarchist, as the ones in England are worthless, but the Bourbon family in Spain all have day jobs… all are nice… and have the fortitude any man would admire. Salud to them.

                                          

                                                              

Bar Exam Hangover in Vilafames

[E-mail to a friend - April, 2007]

I got home late from a Spanish night out, and my head is still throbbing to the beat of a flamenco fusion techno beat. I admit it, I am getting old. I arrived April 4th, and I have been helping my mom settle my late grandmothers estate, repair properties that are over 5 centuries old (leaky roofs is nothing), and painting walls amidst my mothers biting remarks of, “see what a law degree did for you honey - nothing but a huge debt and wearing latex gloves to put white gloop over an old wall (insert subtle Spanish accent and air of disdane).” Oy vei……

My mother is from a small town in Eastern Spain called Vilafames. It is about 25 minutes from the nearest urban center called Castellon de la Plana, 40 minutes from Valencia and 2 1/2 hours from the city of Barcelona. It is a medieval village perched high on a mount, surrounded by walls protecting it from centuries of invaders. The Castle sits atop the village as the eternal protector of human life, and the larger than life church sits on a prominent rocky perch as the eternal protector of the human soul. The pictures attached to this post are of Vilafames, where I spent many summers picking almonds or grapes, stumbling down the steep, cobblestoned streets, searching for excitement and relishing in the solitude. On any given day, geraniums tumble from high balconies covering red stone walls, the wind rushes through narrow alleys harkening the smell of olive oil and pine, and a curious cat will stare at you from one of the countless holes in the grand wooden doors, made expressly for them to come and go as they please. 

The bar sucked. I know people said to relax - but I frieked out. I got through it though. Only one essay, the Evidence one, I wasnt able to finish cuz the prior two were so long. I hope it doesnt bury me. We´ll see. Like my dad said, I went to see my nieces and nephews in Phoenix for awhile and then spent days sending CV´s and meeting with some recruiters downtown. They all seemed keen on getting me to clerk somewhere for awhile, but nothing really exciting. And now here I am….but amidst all the work and running around it has been so nice to see old co-workers at the law firm here and other personal friends. I like Los Angeles, but something about the chaos, the noise, the gaudi mystical architecture, and memories, Barcelona really holds a special place in my heart. In theory I return home May 10th.