At El Diset (formerly Disset 17 Graus) smooth Mallorcan sobrasada sausage meets honey and goat cheese atop a round of crunchy bread; baby arugula and pine nuts are sprinkled over the top in a combination of flavors and textures worthy of its own post. The marriage between honey’s natural, floral sweetness and paprika’s herbal depth and heat…

July 4th of 2014 found me in my nation’s capital drinking Blue Moon’s in a bar on 14th street and watching Germany beat France and Brazil beat Colombia in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. I saw the fireworks from a friend’s rooftop downtown and crashed a GWU frat party that raged all through the night. As my taxi zipped up 16th…

In Barcelona, a terrace in a plaza or down one of the ramblas (except the main Rambla, just don’t go there…) is a great place to catch up with a friend or two, to people-watch and discuss the comings and goings of one’s work or love life. Another good options is a night out tapeando on Carrer Blai.…

In December I visited Albert Adrià’s Bodega 1900, the go-to alternative to Tickets across the street. I was new back then to the world of vermouth with canned things, and thus very lucky to have stumbled upon one of the best representations of this Catalan dining tradition at Bodega 1900. It’s where I first learned an important…

A few days into my father’s visit to Barcelona we had grown a bit weary of tapas. We were craving the opposite, a thoughtfully assembled entrée complete with a protein and a side or two. No more bar snacks, no more homogenous mounds of just one thing, no more small plates designed to share. Of course, our relationship…

In discussing the myriad of culinary experiences I’ve been part of in the past few years I generally make it a point to avoid delving into the quality of the service, especially when it does not significantly affect the atmosphere of the venue or the quality of the food. I’d like to avoid being mistaken for the narrow-minded, overprivileged snob tourist…

“I will never move above Diagonal,” I solidly declared back in January. “That’s where old people and families live.” Maybe. But, as it turns out, El Barri Gòtic is for the most naive of tourists, Erasmus students and the shrewd, local pickpockets who rob them with ease. It’s the Disney World of Barcelona; far from the typical Catalan neighborhood for which…

A few weeks ago my father came to Barcelona to attend a neuroscience symposium and to visit me in my newest city of residence. I met him in the hotel lobby at midday and he brought me down a colorful array of conference canapés wrapped in cocktail napkins. (Not the first time he’s done that. It’s become a bit…

Yeah, the line is long. It starts forming a little before 8:00 p.m. and the place doesn´t open until 8:30. If you get there at 8:05, it´s already so long that when the place does open you will not be among the first 50 or so who are allowed in. And that´s because of the friends…

Empanadas will always hold a special place in my heart. Back in the summer of 2011, a few months after my college graduation, I headed out into the world alone for the first time. A fresh faced 22-year-old seeking a change, I found a place I loved and built a life there, in Buenos Aires. I…