Three Michelin Star Restaurant: Lasarte

Images from our 3+ hour Gastronomic Extravaganza at Lasarte. June 12, 2018

The Michelin guide is a book of recommendations written by country. It includes restaurants and hotels and things to do. The Michelin star rating for restaurants is one of the most highly regarded recommendations in the world. There is no Michelin guide for the United States as a whole and only four cities currently have a guide (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington DC). So many excellent restaurants in our own beloved Seattle are not eligible for this award.

Prior to this trip we purchased the Michelin guide for Spain and Portugal. Each guide is written in the region's native language. We were quite surprised to find the descriptions in the actual book are quite short, no more than two sentences. Most only describe the cuisine style and atmosphere. In January 2017 for my birthday we went to our first two-star Michelin rated restaurant, Marea in New York. I still dream about the lobster burrata. Still the three-star Michelin dining experience had eluded us until this trip. Planning a trip last minute while exciting meant it was difficult to get prime restaurant reservations. Sean had put us on the waitlists at a few restaurants but it wasn't until a few days before the trip that we received word that a cancellation had opened up a spot for us to dine at Lasarte for lunch on Sean's birthday, June 12th.

Our lunch reservation was for 1:30pm. Excited and eager we left our apartment at 12:45 and took the metro from our apartment in the Gothic Quarter back to Passeig de Gracia (the Champs Elysee of Barcelona). We were surprised to ascend the stairs of the metro and find ourselves just outside the Casa Batllo at 12:50. We walked the tree-lined street crowded with tourists taking snapshots towards the directions on the phone. Half a block from the famous Gaudi designed house we found ourselves outside of a very impressive hotel. Sean said he had looked at rooms there online which start around $600 a night. The hotel doorman let us in and we made our way towards the restaurant. At 1pm, the restaurant was closed, the one and only seating for lunch starting at 1:30. The restaurant was masked from view behind a long wall . Only a peeking view of the wine room visible from the lobby.

We waited for our set time in the cocktail lounge. An expansive ballroom sized space made up of small clusters of velvet lined sofas around tables. The space could easily accommodate 50 couples each engaged in intimate conversation over cocktails but the room was empty save for us and another party. It was an intimating space, impossible to not feel out of place there.

Sometime after 1:30, someone came to collect us for the restaurant. We were shown into the small lobby, a large black counter with the Maître D' and two hostesses who asked us if we had a reservation. It was quite tempting to tell them we just walked in off the street but we gave our name and were shown to our table. The restaurant has no windows but is illuminated from several large skylights above. The restaurant was spacious and airy, divided into four rectangle sections each with two tables (bringing the grand total to 8 tables). The center of the restaurant was bisected with a massive copper colored sideboard that extends the length of the restaurant. Each of the eight tables was decorated with a unique black metal sculpture. Ours looked like an octopus in a bathtub which was surprisingly fitting.

Table Sculpture

Compared to our meal from the night before, dining at Lasarte was overwhelming. The tasting menu was far more extensive and the army of waiters (all male dressed in crisp dark suits with copper colored ties and matching pocket squares with just one button of their suit jackets buttoned) standing at attention at the perimeter was difficult to ignore. Every moment they made a carefully orchestrated dance, like a ballet. Unaccustomed to that level of fine dining meant the excessive attention and the flourish of timed movements intended to be seamless and unseen became one of my primary points of interest. The way the waiters would silently beckon one another over so that they might deliver the plates of food at the same time in one sweeping motion. Unlike Montiel whose 9 courses were all but cemented in my memory and recalled by picture alone, Lasarte provided a personalized menu with all dishes and wines for which I am most graceful as I did manage to forget to photograph a few courses.

Image of the Personalized Tasting Menu Provided to take home

Course 1: “Appetizers”

Trio of Crunchy Bites followed by Foie Gras

The meal began with a trio of crispy crunchy bites arranged across the table. We started with a light tempura fried croquet shaped like a spoon. Followed by a wanton stick topped with lobster and a minced crudité of shrimp with wasabi aioli. The final bite was a beet crisp with white caviar. A salty crispy beginning that paired well with our glass of Cava.

Looking around the restaurant I couldn’t help but notice that only half the tables were occupied. Curious given that we had been waitlisted. A large space with so few people made it possible to notice each group of diners. The table accompanying our section had a Spanish couple who ordered ala carte, the table in the next closest section had a French couple the man with a dairy allergy, the table on the other side of the sideboard were Asian and made the curious request of having their meal be light on salt (they also made another unusual request at the end of the meal) and finally closest to the entrance was a group of four who arrived a good half hour after everyone else.

Following the crispy bites a small bowl with a gazpacho arrived, a sliver of fish buried at the bottom under an icy foam of jalapeno which the Spanish couple in our section complained vehemently to the wait staff about. Spicy food really is not well tolerated in this region.

Bread Service

All the Bread and Five Kinds of Butter

The only other place I have seen have such an elaborate bread service was at Marea. This one topped it. Our primary waiter, a young French man who spoke very good English, came to our table with a bounty of bread choices. He described each one and then made recommendations. The cart included a tray topped with a grate that allowed the bread to be lined up and sliced evenly. The crumbs from the bread would fall through the grate into the tray below and remain unseen. A genius solution to the mess of cutting bread. I am certainly putting that on my Christmas list. We took his suggestion of the rustic olive oil bread and some bacon brioche. He sliced each for us and was kind enough to pose for a photograph.

Accompanying the bread was some Spanish olive oil and five, yes five different butters (Classic, Mushroom, Tomato, Spinach and Beet). This of course led me to speculate how these were produced. The tomato butter was incredibly flavorful like the perfect love child between tomato and butter. I assume they must steep the ingredients in the cream before they churn it. At a three star Michelin restaurant, even the bread service is a show.

The final appetizer was smoked eel, carmelized foie gras. Cut into the size of a petit four it was the perfect decadent bite. There was some kind of sweet fruit gelee (possibly pear) sandwiched between the layers making it a balanced bite of creamy, rich, sweet and tart.

We had already seen half a dozen plates delivered and collected by now. We had not even begun the 10 listed courses yet. It promised to be a long meal.

Course 2: Marinated Hamachi

Marinated Hamachi with Sweet Potato and Corn

I would describe this course as a deconstructed ceviche. The morsel of Hamachi was marinated (providing a light chemical cookery much like in ceviche) it was served alongside a layered square of sweet potato and avocado (an exquisite display of knife skills) and a corn pudding. The fish was incredible, delicate yet flavorful. I didn’t find the sweet potato added much to the dish and the corn pudding was frankly confusing. All the components delicious but I didn’t really understand the story it was trying to tell. But it was very pretty.

Course 3: Oysters and Champagne

Oyster with Champagne Foam

Oysters and champagne are a classic flavor pairing. The peanut butter and jelly of fine dining. This preparation was exquisite. The oyster was served warm (I suspect sous vide) and the champagne had been made into a foam. Watercress had been frozen with liquid nitrogen but placed against the warm oyster slowly began to melt. A pearl of parsnips (quite literally created to look like a pearl) sat atop the quivering oyster. The combination of flavors and textures and temperatures was playful and exciting. The oyster surprisingly was nearly raw in the center but the outside was warm and coated in the thin skin of cooked flavor. The cold burst from the frozen melting watercress provided the crisp cool sensation you normally get when eating raw oysters and the champagne provided the perfect pairing. This dish combined creativity, execution, and flavor.

Course 4: Crayfish with Sheep’s Cheese

Unfortunately I am missing a picture of this dish but thankfully its memory is clear in my mind. A dark plate with two elegant tails of shelled crayfish served with pearls of coffee and a mound of soft sheep’s milk cheese. The coffee with shellfish was an unusual pairing but the crayfish with cheese reminded me a lot of lobster burrata. This was a tasty course (so much so the image is missing) but it was no lobster burrata.

Somewhere around now I decided to use the restroom and was personally escorted to door hidden in the seam of a wall. The bathroom had a large powder room and communal sink before two doors lead to the men’s and women’s restroom. While being escorted to the bathroom makes me uncomfortable (something that has happened at a handful of restaurants over the years), the door being built into the wall meant I struggled to get out. What I really needed was an escort out of the restroom. But after a bit of groping and half being convinced I had taken some kind of steward’s entrance, I ended up back in the main salon. Two waiters quickly flanked me and glided ahead to move the table out of the way so I could sit back in the corner booth as they pushed the table back into place. Trapping us like kids in a high chair.

I found myself comparing this meal a lot to being a toddler. Being waited on hand and foot, the soothing music, the meal having this sumptuous richness lulling you into culinary submission. It was impossible not to feel docile and placated and even a little sleepy throughout the courses.

Course 5: Squid Tartare

Squid Tartare

This dish was one of my favorites, it features a lot of complexity of flavor as well as exquisite knife work. There was a mound of hand-minced squid tartare with zested kaffir limes. It was topped with the rich yolk of an egg that would coat a spoon and sandwiched between the two was a consommé (broth) of lamb. The rich meaty flavor of the lamb broth with the creamy decadency of the egg yolk and the bright burst of lime was incredible. Despite being billed as squid tartare, the egg was certainly the star of the show. The exquisitely minced squid served as the textural element and as the mode of delivery for the yolk which once broken with the spoon oozed throughout the squid like sunny side up eggs with hash browns.

Course 6: Herb Salad with Lobster

Prettiest Salad Ever

Hands down this was the most interesting and artistic presentation of a salad I have ever seen. The plate was coated in a quivering gelee matrix of clear dressing, made from tomatoes, that was studded with gems of herbs, pureed vegetables and oil. While beautiful to look at it was necessary after taking the photographs to stir a spoon through the salad and combine the isolated moments into a single emulsification. Each bite tasted different. The mixture of fresh greens ranging from leafy to bitter. The dressing taking on different personalities depending on the combination of gems. Hidden amongst the forest of lettuces were a few bites of perfectly cooked lobster. Sweet and succulent, a treat for eating your vegetables.

Course 7: Wagyu Steak and Eel Ravioli

Wagyu Ravioli with Glazed Eel

Surf and turf! Just kidding. This was another very memorable course. The open-faced pasta was stuffed with bites of Wagyu beef from Japan. The beef had been delicately prepared and topped with caviar. Each ravioli was served with a bite of glazed eel giving it a balanced sweet note. Between the twin raviolis was an oyster foam. The beef just melted in your mouth like butter. This was my first time eating genuine Wagyu (I have had American Wagyu on a few occasions which is the same breed of cattle but domestic. It is certainly not the same thing. I imagine it is similar to having Iberian pigs but not fed exclusively acorns).

Course 8: Hake Loin

Hake with Goose Neck Barnacles

Hake is in the cod family, a sweet mild flakey white fish listed on many menus in Spain as Merluza. This preparation was pan seared skin-side down and served with Galician goose neck barnacles. When this dish arrived at the table Sean was excited. He recalled reading an article online about three sisters in Galicia who collect goose neck barnacles. It is a dangerous often deadly profession. The high risk occupation comes with high reward as the goose neck barnacles that only grow on the sharp faced rocks of Galicia sell for 200 Euro a kilo or about $100 a pound. Suddenly I was excited. The rush of eating something new along with an appreciation for the perilous journey these small bites of the sea had made to be on our plate. Quickly the goose neck barnacles became the star of the show, each of the three on the plate eaten with care. Tender and delicious with a flavor unlike other shellfish. They complemented both the subtle flavors of the hake as well as the coconut and red curry sauces on the plate. All around a good dish and thanks to Sean one with a story.

Link to the Slate Article

Course 9: Charcoal Grilled Pigeon

I was so distracted by the next dish that I did not take a picture of it but I remember the flavors well. Appearing much like duck breast was slices of pigeon arranged alongside white asparagus. Wood pigeon is a common game bird eaten in Spain. It is not the same species you find in Central Park or the Plaza Catalunya. It has a gamey flavor that paired well with the smoky flavor of the chargrilled preparation that made Sean joke that they had a Webber Kettle grill back in the kitchen. Asparagus must be in season as it has come up time and again across tasting menus in Spain. No complaint here. I love asparagus and having planted some in our garden this year, understand the patience required to grow it. Neither Sean nor I had eaten pigeon before although we had seen it sold live in the markets of Girona. Having experienced the depths of flavor and tender but meaty texture, I will certainly keep an eye out for it on future menus in Spain.
Desserts

Sweets Anyone?

Course 10: Thai Chili Ice cream with Papaya Salad

Thai Chili Ice Cream with Papaya Mango Salad

Another spicy ice cream! I am certainly inspired after these two tasting menus to develop a spicy ice cream or sorbet in my own ice cream maker. This was the first of two desserts, a playful mix of sweet and spicy. Much like the meal the night before, the dish was prefaced that the mango and papaya salad was intended to cool off the mouth from the spicy ice cream. Spoiler: The ice cream was not very spicy. Nonetheless this was a flavorful dessert that was most curious as below the chili and banana ice cream was a peanut sauce! The dish was meant to mimic the palate cleansing green papaya salad traditionally found in Thai cuisine. It had all the same elements. Chili, peanuts, and papaya. I especially enjoyed the gelee shaped to look like a chili pepper.

I have thus far not spoken about the wines as having 5 different wines with 12 courses means that none pair perfectly. All were good but the only one that really stood out was the sherry dessert wine. Sean had already announced that despite being a fan of Port and Madeira, he did not like Sherry. I think this particular glass changed his mind. A dark rich sweet sherry that paired well with both dessert courses. I don’t think it has made him a convert but it at least broadened his notion of sherry and mine.

Course 11: Chocolate, Whiskey, and Pecan Surprise

Delicious Chocolatey Bites

Chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream, whiskey sauce and chocolate coated pecan bonbons. I could have eaten an entire bowl of the pecan bonbons. This dessert reminded me of a deconstructed chocolate pecan pie. Frozen and creamy and delicious. A perfect end to a very extensive meal.

Course 12: Petit-fours

Petit Fours Rise to the Occassion

We ordered espresso that arrived with our petit-fours. It was at this time my attention was drawn by the sound of a cocktail shaker. I looked over and saw that the Asian couple who had not finished a single glass of wine (they had half drank glasses from each course in front of them) had declined coffee and instead requested espresso martinis. I suppose that is one way to end a meal. The presentation of the Petit-fours was in and of itself a work of art. Each of the 8 bites (4 and 4) on its own glass pedestal. Now if that is not classy, I don’t know what it.

Nearly four hours after the meal began we were ready to depart. Very full and very satiated. The meal full of moments we will remember for the rest of our lives. Like when Sean got up to go to the bathroom and two waiters pulled back the table. While he was gone, one came around with a pair of tongs and collected his used napkin. A moment later he was back at the table. The waiters surprised and confused scrambled back to adjust the table. The head waiter coming over to ask what happened. Sean informed him the bathroom was occupied and he would wait. The waiter said he would inform Sean the moment it was free. If it had been me, I would have just waited for the bathroom to be free but Sean often returns to the table to wait. While we are chit chatting the head waiter returns and informs Sean that the bathroom is not occupied. That all patrons in the restaurant are at their tables and that the door is a sliding door so attempting to push or pull it would not open it. I had to try very hard not to laugh that Sean had been bested by a bathroom door. The waiter was kind enough to escort Sean to the restroom AND open the door.

A meal to remember

Three star Michelin dining is an experience to remember. I think now having been to restaurants with all four Michelin designations (plate, 1 star, 2 stars, and 3 stars), I generally prefer plate and 1 star restaurants. On the whole, they tend to be younger (and often more innovative) chefs early in their career and a lot more relaxed (and of course much cheaper). I find being waited on hand and foot a bit onerous overall. I prefer a more approachable (less classist) dining experience. I am convinced that the stuffy formal dining that is common of current two and three star Michelin restaurants will fall by the wayside as a new generation of chefs earn their place.

Up next One Night in Toledo (not Ohio).  

Restaurant Montiel

9 courses from start to finis  from our meal at Montiel. June 2018. Barcelona, Spain. 

Sean and I first ate at Restaurant Montiel in 2011, the night we got engaged. We had made the reservation earlier the same day and arrived at 10pm just after deciding to get married. The restaurant had a reasonably priced 9-course tasting menu and was well reviewed. We arrived this evening in June after retracing our steps from that fateful night 7 years prior. Much like our relationship, which has changed a lot in the previous 7 years, restaurant Montiel had undergone its own growth and evolution. The narrow two-story restaurant had recently undergone a renovation that made the primary upstairs dining room more spacious and had replaced the wooden table and chairs with sleek turquoise booths. The walls were adorned with large canvases wrapped in swaths of colored cloth.

While their vision likely had not changed, we were acutely more aware of it during this visit. The restaurant prides itself on being a local seasonal organic farm to table restaurant with a 9 course tasting menu. The price was unchanged (~70 Euro for the tasting menu and ~30 Euro for the wine pairing).

Sean and Krystal at Restaurant Montie.  June 11,2018.  Barcelona, Spain

A Playful Beginning

Course 1: Strawberry-Tomato Gazpacho with Kim Chi

Course 1: Strawberry Gazpacho

After we ordered the tasting menu and wine pairing, a modest glazed clay bowl garnished with kim chi was brought to the table. The spicy fermented cabbage made a small island in the bowl, upon which the server poured a thick coral colored soup made of strawberries and tomato. The sweetness of the strawberries was meant to counteract the spiciness of the kim chi. Spaniards are particularly reticent towards spicy foods. It was a beautiful pairing. The cold soup refreshing, the sweetness from the strawberry a little overpowering until just the right amount of kim chi found its way into your spoon at which point it was the perfect sweet, sour, acidic, and spicy bite. The meal was off to a good start.

Course 2: Prawn Ceviche

Course 2: Prawn Ceviche

Sean and I shared some of the same quiet concerns about the evening, that our memory of the food might have been colored by the excitement of our engagement and our inexperience with fine dining. However whatever concerns we had were immediately erased by this second dish.

Served with a bright crisp Catalan cava, the prawn ceviche showcased locally caught prawns with a creamy melt in your mouth texture. Sweet, plump and ever slightly translucent, these succulent bites were nestled below thin slices of avocado. Served with a spicy sorbet and a passionfruit gastrique (once again to make the slight heat bearable to the tender local palates). The resulting dish was spectacular. Clearly a showstopper. The balance between flavors was impeccable, each component thoughtful and harmonious. The dish colorful on the place. The spicy sorbet ensuring that each bite was crisp and ice cold like you’d want any good ceviche to me. It was spectacular.

A Different Direction

The owner of the restaurant, an Argentine named Marcos, served many of our dishes. I only found out he was the owner late the same night while researching the restaurant online. As he brought out the second wine, an organic white grenache from the Terra Alta region of Catalonia, he informed us that the first two dishes had been a playful expression by the chef but that the menu would move in a more traditional direction following dish three which was intended to clear the palate and reorient the meal.

Course 3: White Asparagus in Blood Orange Broth

Course 3: White Asparagus in Blood Orange Broth

A spear of white Navarre asparagus gently poached. The plate assembled and the blood orange broth carefully poured tableside. The most curious bites of this dish were the pearls of vermouth. Vermouth is a palate opening aperitif; having it served in such a creative way made me smile. The dish was light and crisp feeling almost like the first course of a different meal.

Course 4: Sea Rice

Course 4: Sea Rice

The Sea Rice proved to be another show-stopping course. A deconstructed paella. Rice slow cooked in a vibrant seafood stock was draped with a veil of pancetta, topped with two perfectly cooked shrimp, and served alongside a dollop of saffron sauce. The pancetta was sliced so thinly, it was translucent and melted over the mound of richly flavored rice. The rice was perfectly cooked to the point that each grain maintained its shape but that the stock which it had soaked up had the velvety texture of a risotto. Each bite was packed with flavor and it was a playful twist on a dish that every tourist trap in Barcelona insists on selling (despite paella being from another region). The dish was paired with a white blend of Macabeo and Grenacha from Acustic Cellars with a unique bouquet and color. The wine was a dark blonde like caramelized pears and it made a smooth beeline along your tongue before opening with a burst of flavor and then rounding along the back of your tongue. The wine was very full bodied for a white and made me think about how to express wines. For me I tend to think of them like a spectrogram (the type of graphs used to show frequency of sounds) that depicts how the flavor feels in your mouth. It was this wine that pushed me to take out pen and paper at the table and record the wines and tasting notes each with graphical representation.

Back of a receipt wine tasting notes

The Main Event(s)

Course 5: Ravioli of duck and pear

Course 5: Duck Pear Ravioli

Rich, savory and decadent. I think it was the only time I thought the portion, a single ravioli, was too big. Granted, it was the size of the size of an espresso saucer. The fresh circlet of pasta was stuffed with confit duck and poached pear. The ravioli was swimming in a thick dark sauce made from the reduction of wine (I want to say port) and the duck’s own juices. The pasta was topped with thin shavings of truffle (my first time eating it in an unaltered form). It was heavenly.

The dish was served with the first of two red wines for the night. A bold light bodied blend made from a rare local grape. The wine, Petit Bernat Negra, from a 1,000 year old winery, Oller del Mas, in the small neighboring hilltop village of Monserrat (most famous for its monastery). Marcos noted that this particular blend is made with a very rare local grape. Finding the wine online later revealed this to include 1% Piquepoul. I would describe this blend reading like a spicy pinot noir. It opens with a burst of big bold flavor that narrows but lingers as it runs along your tongue. A complex wine that likely presents itself differently depending on the accompanying dish.

Course 6: Veal Tenderloin with mushrooms and potatoes

Course 6: Veal Steak with Potatoes

Course 6 was a simple classic dish (steak and potatoes) masterfully executed. The sixth course was presented as veal tenderloin but given the vibrant red color of the steak, I assume this a young but not baby cow. Our trip to the Bologna market in Italy during 2017 revealed that other countries have words to describe both the age and gender of a beast. I assume English failing for such granularity forced the term veal. Semantics aside, this was a tender, perfectly cooked steak. It was served alongside local mushrooms and potatoes soaked in red wine. While it could not be billed as innovative, this dish was just damn good.

It was served with a big red blend, Martinet Bru from the Priorat region. This Catalan wine region is in the desert not like our own Yakima valley and remains an underappreciated wine territory. We have found that some of the best Spanish wines for the money come from this region.

On the Sweeter Side

Course 7: Strawberries and Cream

Course 7: Dessert 1

The first dessert a playful take on strawberries and cream sought to serve as both a palate cleanser and something to satisfy a sweet tooth. A whimsical blue glass plate was adorned with a steak of frozen candied balsamic strawberries topped with fennel ice cream, buttressed by sweet crème Catalan and dotted with coins of lemon sauce.  A cool refreshing and zesty dessert. The lemon sauce alone was so good I would have gladly accepted a bucket of that for dessert. Okay not a bucket, a bowl. After all it is course 7.

Somewhere between course 7 and 8, we were treated with a dessert wine, Josefina Pinol Dolc Negra made from Grenache. This sweet dessert wine is made from late harvest Grenache grapes from Terra Alta (we might call this an Ice Wine back home). I had no idea you could make dessert wine with Grenache and this was very good.

Course 8: Poached Pear with Cucumber Sorbet?

Course 8: Dessert 2

Admittedly this dish was not particularly memorable, staring at the image of this course on the train as I write about it 3 days later, I had to lean over to ask Sean what it was. He said it was a pear. That seems right. The only part I remember is the crumble which was like someone had taken a brown sugar cookie and turned it into powder. Not every dish can be the kind that stays with you forever. Reading this blog post you might think I took detailed notes on the meal but the image above with my wine notes written on the back of a receipt was all I had. No menu from the restaurant to refer to. Only the still images of each dish to jog my memory. I would argue a good meal that’s all you need. A hint to be whisked back to that moment. To taste those flavors again in your mind. Indeed writing about each course ensures that for years to come this can serve as the trigger for the memory of each course.

 Course 9: Petit Fours

Course 9: Petit Fours

I would argue that petit fours are not a proper course but since it was presented this way, I shall do the same. Petit fours are a traditional French end to a meal. Four sweet bites to go with your coffee. The selection that evening included an apricot gelee, dark chocolate bonbon with a liqueur center and I honestly don’t remember the other two.  Maybe some kind of shortbread? I had drank like six glasses of wine at this point. The exact bites don’t matter. It is like putting a bow on a Christmas present. It makes the gift look complete, the gift giver thoughtful but it doesn’t really change what was wrapped inside. The meal was start to finish exquisite and the petit fours added a finishing touch like the final bow of an encore.

We found ourselves pleased to find that the restaurant had grown in our absence. The dishes more nuanced and complex than our first visit. Its evolution acknowledged by the Michelin guide rewarding it with a plate. It was a pretty fucking good day and a damn good meal.

Sean outside of Restaurant Montiel June 11, 2018

 
Up next our first meal at a three star Michelin-rated restaurant: Lasarte