Una Hamburguesa

For a while I've been fascinated by the unique offerings of McDonalds' international locations.  Now, I am not a fan of American fast food chains' consuming the world; it pains me to be abroad and feel like I'm basically in America what with the obnoxious presence of McDonalds and the like.  Additionally, I am appalled by the marketing and quality of fast food; it's disgusting to think about what these places have done to the American palate -- not to mention consumer health -- and are now wreaking the same havoc on the rest of the world.  Don't get me wrong - I may be a conscientious eater, but the idea of a big mac makes my mouth water.  I get fast food's appeal; our attraction to it is primal, unthinking.  But I think we should aspire to eat...better.

OK, I could go on forever.  The point of this post was that while in Barcelona, I did NOT consume any McDonalds (OK, I did have a McCafe cappuccino, ugh), but I did get a kick out of checking out the local specials.  Here's what I discovered:

The NYCrispy!  How clever.  It appears to be a bacon cheeseburger of some variety.  I couldn't get much else because the servers behind the counter demanded that we stop snapping pictures.  Maybe they thought we were working for the King, el rei de hamburguesa.

Dessert in Espanya

During our stay in Barcelona, my friend and I decided to devote one day to just meandering around the city, not hunting out tourist destinations and burning out all our energy in doing so. While considering whether to eat at a modest looking restaurant in our hotel's neighborhood, a man who was passing on a motorbike recognized our indecisive looks and gave a thumbs up and pointed toward the restaurant in question. Seeing this as a good sign, we ate lunch at the place which we found to be quiet with a few locals. Our waitress spoke barely any English, and as pretentious as this sounds of me, I really love that. With ever increasing globalization and dominance of the English language, it is a treat for an anglophone tourist to experience being "lost" or linguistically an outsider. But, I digress...

My friend and I took pictures of our desserts, being that they were so prettily carved and elegant in design. It's ice cream shaped as flan with a caramel-almond topping. Who cares that they probably came from a package and rather than handcrafted at the eatery?

Barcelona Bounty: Dining at Paco Meralgo

My best dining experience in Barcelona was at Paco Meralgo, a highly praised restaurant located in the city's L'Eixample neighborhood. This tapas bar has a cool atmosphere -- it is well-lit featuring modern decor with wooden tables and stools, and full of smartly dressed locals (I think we were the only tourists in the place -- more often than not a good sign). On to the delicious food: The patatas bravas. Fried potatoes coated with spicy oil-based sauce:

Baby octopus with candied onions:

Smoked salmon on bread. Many tapas in Spain are prepared on top of a small piece of bread. We were at a "pay as you pick" tapas bar at one point where everything came on top of stale white bread (fried meatballs, anchovies, etc.) Since this was a pretty classy joint, more thought went into the assembly of the platters, and so not everything came with bread. This salmon was reminiscent of one particular New York food, namely lox.

And last but not least, melted brie on bread with a lone olive atop:

Mercat de la Boqueria - Barcelona

During my summer 2011 trip to Barcelona, I had the opportunity to visit the famous marketplace - "Mercat de la Boqueria" - which is located off a crowded, touristy strip of a major road, Las Ramblas.

My pictures are similar to those that most tourists take of the market's fare, but I still think they're pretty neat. I love the fruits packaged with colored spoons. Eye-catching and convenient for a snack while afoot:

Next pic features this cute sangria stand. You can't dine in Spain without having sangria at some point.

While I didn't have any of the wine-fruit punch concoction, I did treat myself to a fruit smoothie. Unfortunately, it looks better than it tasted. Oh well, I had to choose looks over substance when it came to this rich purple color:

colorful smoothies

candy galore

more candy

meats