A night out on the town in Madrid 3-4-05

A travesty has occurred, I have been here close to a month and I haven’t even had a chance to sample the night life of Madrid. Supposedly, by most accounts it is some of the best the world has to offer, and the latest in hours of operation. In fact, it is well known that if you go out in Madrid before midnight you will most likely find yourself alone at the bar or waiting for the nightclub to open since a large majority do not open until 2 or 3 in the morning and then it is standing room only. So this night I was to have a taste though a tame one a taste none the less, focusing mainly on small bars and fun food.

The night was prompted by a visitor. Around 3 in the afternoon, Janelle’s Cousin Todd arrived in Madrid for a short stay. Also this night, our other roommates were preoccupied with other things to do, leaving the responsibility to Gab, Janelle and I to show Todd, and in the end me, what Madrid had to offer. After a nice lunch, and a couple of naps, we decided to head out around 7 or so, just to have a few drinks and taste a few Tapas.

Having had a class downtown, Janelle decided to have Gab and I take Todd on his first metro trip, to meet up with her by the Bear and the Madrileño tree in Sol. Basically, this is the place where everyone meets when they want to get together with friends, and thus, is usually filled with people in all manner of dress with darting eyes trying not to miss anyone in the mass of humanity. Fortunate for us, being the foreigners we are, we arrived there a bit too early by Madrileño standards and found Janelle right away before heading off into the chilly night.

Making sure that Todd got a bit of the Tourist view, we headed to Plaza de Mayor. Plaza de Mayor has one of the longest histories in Madrid, as well as the obligatory statue of a famous person on a big horse; which acts like a tourist magnet and provides the digital camera industry with a stable foundation on which to build. So after a few pictures of the necessary monuments and sites of famous deaths/pronouncements, we quickly moved on to a part of the town just south of where we were to explore a vibrant restaurant/bar area in Madrid.

Our guide Janelle had a thousand things to show us, and we only had one night and about three quarters of a tank of gas in us to go on. Our first stop was a small wine bar. When I say small, I mean it made our old apartment look like a mansion. A small bar a couple of stools and a basement with bathroom and that’s about it. Our bartenders were two middle aged ladies both with smiles and kind eyes who were quick to get us each a wine. To start, Gab and I opted for a Cava in attempt to kick off the night’s events with a bit of class.

Agusti Torello, straw colored very light with small bubbles. Light honey nose w/faint walnut and citrus. Medium body with strong sparkle on the tongue and a dry finish. Sharp flavors of citrus and light almost clay like earth with a faint marzipan almond quality on the finish. 88pts

As is the tradition, we were presented with Tapas, which in this instance was a small round of bread with a pungent sharp goat cheese round drizzled with a fruity olive oil and a few red pepper corns. Most of the time the pepper corns would overpower what ever I was having, but in this case their sharp bite echoed the sharpness of the cheese perfectly. So far, so good! A nice start to the evening, and one that was quickly getting chilly as we soon headed out in search of our next stop.

After a 5 minute walk, we were led to the next bar- a quirky little place tucked into the side of a building as if to be an afterthought of the architect. Janelle informed us that they not only served white wine, sherry and beer, no red wine or liquors, but also that the ala carte style of food service offered some fun interesting new treats. After some discussion, we opted for a dish that consisted of semi crisp potato thins topped with a strong cured ham and a broken or lightly scrambled egg. To go with this strange concoction, three of us split a half bottle of Pedro Romero Manzanilla Sherry. I won’t bother with notes for this one, as it was a poor example of Manzanilla, but it did have the trademark salt air quality that did find a nice pairing with the side of olives we were given. The food though unremarkable did a nice job of preparing us for the night that lay ahead by giving us a nice base of grease on which to layer our drinks. It was still wee bit early for a normal Madrileño evening out, but by the time we were finishing up, the small space we found in the basement was quickly feeling smaller.

Moving on again, the night air was starting to bite back with a chill that sunk to the bone. Consequently, it pushed us on in search of substances to warm us up on the inside. We finally arrived at Cien Vinos, though not without some difficulty. Janelle was given directions to this place by a student, and after finding the street it was supposed to be on, we had some trouble finding where exactly on this street it was. But not to be thwarted, Janelle ran into a small bar to ask for directions to which she was informed that they had “no idea” where this particular bar was. Interesting enough, just as we walked out the front door to our left hung a very nice bronze plaque with Cien Vinos etched on it. Oh well, maybe they never leave through the front door!

Cien Vinos is a place that I must get back to sooner than later. Seeing that we were not sure how long we would be out, nor how much food we would need, we decided to stick to wine at this stop: 2 glasses of a nice Navarra and 2 glasses of a Tokaji Furimint, Oremus Dry. Both were fun! I have had the Tokaji in the dessert form, but not in the dry state. It was a fun experience to try it another in a completely different state. While watching various groups mingle and talk, our eyes turned to the display case of some of their “Pinchos” usually a larger version of a Tapas and a smaller version of a “Racione”. For what seemed like vary reasonable prices, you could have anything from foie gras to Calamari with fantastic presentation. Catching my eye was a round thimble shaped dish with caramelized fruit topped with couscous and a half moon slice of seared foie gras. Why we didn’t stay and partake of this we later regretted, but oh well, just another reason to come back another night.

With three bars down, and three to go, we had the pleasure of a tourist spot called the “Guitarra” a cave of a restaurant, set underneath Plaza de Mayor. Old brick arches framed dimly lit rooms, all quite chilly and oozing with, history. As far as food, we decided on something more traditional: Sangria and Fried Chorizo. It was an odd pairing but incredibly but the cool sangria balanced the hot chorizo quite well!

Aside #1 Chorizo

Before I had arrived in Spain, Chorizo existed in my mind only as a spicy sausage from Spain - basically, pork with lots of spicy paprika giving it its bright staining red color. But after arriving here, I’m starting to understand that I was not only incorrect in this assumption, but also in need of some serious exploration. One person put it to me this way: “Chorizo is Chorizo and Sausage is Sausage. One is not the other and can never be”. Whether this is a language issue or truly a difference that I need to get straight is a subject of some debate. The one thing I can tell you is that like the Italians these people know what to do with a pig! So many different types of cured hams, sausages and chorizos that my mind wants to explode with the opportunities. Given an infinite length of time to try them all, I’m not sure I would have a chance to try them all. Spicy, sweet, rice filled, prosciutto like(though never compare the two out loud), cured hams from pigs that were fed only acorns for the last days of their lives, long ones, short ones, sliced ones, cold, hot, thin, thick….YES!!! .. as I sit drooling, I shall now return to the story.

In this instance, we were given small almost round chorizos with a light piquant spice to them steaming hot and bursting with flavor! As you tentatively bit into them, the flavor of paprika and rich fat coated every part of your mouth. To wash it down, the Spanish drink of Sangria did just the trick. The soothing heat of the hot little sausages fresh from the pan mixed with the delicate flavor of the Sangria. Sangria at its most basic level is a slightly sweetened wine beverage, to which wine is combined with triple sec, brandy and fruit. It can provide one with quite the buzz if you are not careful do to the easy way in which it goes down. One or two pitchers of this on a hot summer’s day makes a siesta seem a more natural part of life.

During this part of our adventure, the conversation turned to odd things one might eat while in Spain. Todd stated that he was up for trying anything, and beginning an exploration of the extremes in the culinary world, came to the subject of Rocky Mountain Oysters. For those of you who don’t know, these are not oysters from the Rocky Mountains, but rather from a bull. Here in Spain, “bull’s balls”, as we like to say, are eaten as part of the bull fighting tradition. I’m sure a notion of transfer of power was involved, although I don’t really think I need or want to get into this. In a hunt for “bull’s balls”, we were off wandering further into the rapidly cooling night. Unfortunately we were not successful, and after one waiter laughed a bit when we said that we would like to try this delicacy, we decided instead to stop at a small Tapas bar in Plaza de Mayor to warm up and eat some more.

Surprise some wine was ordered, while for food, a plate of blood sausage with rice (the rice is inside the sausage) and a plate of warm octopus. The sausage was almost purple black in color, while the flavor was a mix of rich sweetness and mild spice. The most notable characteristic was that of the texture. The cooked rice was mixed into the meat making every bite crackle with the crunchy rice contrasted by the slight chewy resistance of the meat. I think I like this one whose, richness, sweetness and texture: blend to create a tri-fecta of sorts. Unfortunately, the octopus was lacking in character. While not all together bad, it did not compare to the fare we had had up until now and was our one regret so far. My wine of choice was a sweet Oloroso sherry with a salty nut character that made me wonder if there was such a thing as honey roasted pecans. At this point in the evening, I was not in the mood to critique anything too deeply, but I did make sure to make a “note to self” reminding myself to return to this wine for further exploration. Unfortunately, this restaurant was in a heavy tourist area making the value for euro severely lacking! Don’t worry though we wouldn’t let the night end on a sour note.

Instead, we ended up at Delic, a crowded bar where we squeezed past large groups of people in order to get to the back where were lucky enough to find a table for 4. Lively and a bit loud, this turned out to be a fun place with up beat music and friendly patrons. We settled here and for a change tried our first mixed drinks of the evening. For me, it was Orujo, a liquor that I had seen on many store shelves that continuously called my name to "Come take a taste!" Basically, it is a brandy based liquor infused with herbs originating from “green Spain” in the northwest corner of the country. Served in a snifter with ice, it shows a shade lighter than Galliano with a rich viscosity that clings to the glass. Very sweet! It has a faint anise flavor and a strong green herbal characteristic that lingers with every sip. To appease the groups’ sweet tooth, two slices of cake/torte like substance were brought to the table. The first treat was a mound of gooey chocolate cake oozing across the plate. For me, this was a bit overpowering, while the second was more of a local specialty, Torte de Dulce de Leche. I’m not sure if we have this in America, but Dulce de Leche is basically a caramel sauce made by boiling down milk and sugar and is put into and on just about everything. The torte is made up of thin layers of paper thin dough sandwiched by dulce de leche and would put even the healthiest individual into diabetic seizures, though it does taste kind nice!

At this point in the evening, our bodies and minds were beginning to slow down a bit as our tank was heading towards empty. So with a bit of wiggling and weaving we pushed our way to the front and out the door into the frigid night air. It had been fun and we had seen a lot. For me, it was my first taste of what Madrid has to offer to a person whose soul thrives on good food, good wine, and decadence.

Till soon, Ryan Opaz