This series, Spain… On The Road Again is a lighthearted but "sometimes food, wine, and scenery intensive" show that brings you the best Spain has to offer in all three categories. And when you’ve got hosts such as famed actress Gwyneth Paltrow; the Iron Chef, Mario Batali; Spanish actress and linguist Claudia Bassols; and New York Times writer Mark Bittman, combined with the sometimes breathtaking beauty, the wonderful food and the robust wines of Spain (not to mention the famed Spanish sun), you’ve got a can’t-miss show that bathes you in gustatory opulence.
While the first few episodes of this series seemed a little stilted, the cast are now settling into their roles and getting looser, more relaxed. Of course, the Iron Chef is always relaxed, so the preceding meant the remaining three. It appears that while the food and, by necessity, the locations, are scripted, everything else seems very loose and unscripted which may have contributed. Now that Mark Bittman and Claudia Bassols are feeling more comfortable with their impromptu dialogue, they seem much more personable. The atmosphere feels like you're with three friends on a vacation road trip rather than any sort of agenda. Gwyneth Paltrow is absent for this episode.
This week we’re back in Barcelona and Basque country, as in previous episodes, but at different locations and with different menus. We start in the Catalonian capital city, Barcelona, with a short but unique tour of some of Antoni Gaudí’s most famous architectural masterpieces. The first stop in this private tour guided by Gaudí expert Daniel Giralt-Miracle is Casa Batlló, where the theme, other than Gaudí’s fantastical exteriors, is striking functionality in the form of a multitude of arches inside. Also striking are the sashless windows and skylights which epitomize Gaudí’s fixation with light. The garden is designed as a whole, with all its elements contributing.
The next stop on our Gaudí tour is his stonewalled Park Gue, classified as a “city garden” rather than a park. It was originally designed to house 60 families with common services such as reception, concierge, etc., but is now a tourist spot. The “green” fountain, designed and built a century before “green” ever became en vogue, recycles rainwater from a collection area, channels it through the columns of the building, and it ends its trip coming out of the mouth of a dragon in the central plaza.
The final Gaudí stop is La Padrera by night, Gaudí’s last and most modernistic building. The building consists of four basic areas, each with its own staircase to the roof, which is a fantastical Disney World-looking area. All the structures on the roof are not only artistic, they’re fully functional as well. The building got its name, which means “quarry,” from the townspeople, due to the massive amounts of stone used in building it.
Now we begin the scrumptious food portion of this week’s adventure. Restaurante Can Pineda serves up Barcelona’s version of soul food, many of the dishes having the same ingredients as those found in the ‘down home’ restaurants in the US, but the Catalonian version, of course: chitlins, pig’s feet and chickpeas, but also langoustine. And for the same reason as they were made in the US by mostly slave, but also poor white families: economy. Also like soul food in the US, the original cooks who made these dishes before the better times came along are dying off, making the remaining ones in higher demand. And of course it wouldn’t be a European restaurant without wine and dessert.
Article comments
1 - Victor
I'm afraid you're a bit confused about the Basque Country. It's not the hole region on the northern coast of Spain. It's just the eastern part of it. Asturias is another region (another "comunidad autonoma") and Cantabria is another one settled between Asturias and The Basque Country.
2 - Lou
I stand corrected! Thanks for the relearning experience - really. I used to know that at one time. Memory's the second thing to go!
3 - Christopher Rose
There's also Galicia, which is the west end of the north coast. Oh, and it is Oviedo, not Ovieda.