Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Last Tuesday I met Bruce and another friend for dinner at Taberna de Haro, a Spanish restaurant of some (good) repute in the Boston area. I had something else to do first so I arrived after the seared padrone peppers were all gone... and I really had no choice in what was served.
Not that I minded the food choices. Bruce fetched the chef out of the kitchen and asked her what to get. She said, he did, and that was one of the best paella negra that I have eaten in many, many years. Every grain of rice was distinct and retained its chew. They rolled around my tongue like little treasures waiting to be chomped. And the blended squid and cuttlefish ink was briny and iodiney and shellfishy and very black. I'm really impressed enough to go back just for this.
The drinks choice, um, er, well.
Let me say that the whole evening's agenda really was out of my hands. The other friend was present under challenging and grossly extenuating circumstances so we accommodated.
A flight of 8 sherries:
I didn't take notes so this is from memory.
The first two were fino, then one manzanilla, one amontillado, a palo cortado, two oloroso, and a PX. Two of the wines were from Alexander Jules (manz 17/71 and amon 6/26), one of the oloroso was by Valdespino, the PX was by Lustau. Between the two fino, a little barrel-age helped the second one to be more interesting. The Valdespino was more structured than the other oloroso and suited me better.
The barkeep (Sean Sullivan, he's on "In The Bar") took pity on me later and poured me a glass of txakoli bianco. Bless him.
There.
Not that I minded the food choices. Bruce fetched the chef out of the kitchen and asked her what to get. She said, he did, and that was one of the best paella negra that I have eaten in many, many years. Every grain of rice was distinct and retained its chew. They rolled around my tongue like little treasures waiting to be chomped. And the blended squid and cuttlefish ink was briny and iodiney and shellfishy and very black. I'm really impressed enough to go back just for this.
The drinks choice, um, er, well.
Let me say that the whole evening's agenda really was out of my hands. The other friend was present under challenging and grossly extenuating circumstances so we accommodated.
A flight of 8 sherries:
The first two were fino, then one manzanilla, one amontillado, a palo cortado, two oloroso, and a PX. Two of the wines were from Alexander Jules (manz 17/71 and amon 6/26), one of the oloroso was by Valdespino, the PX was by Lustau. Between the two fino, a little barrel-age helped the second one to be more interesting. The Valdespino was more structured than the other oloroso and suited me better.
The barkeep (Sean Sullivan, he's on "In The Bar") took pity on me later and poured me a glass of txakoli bianco. Bless him.
There.