1. La Maruca – We’ve been coming to La Maruca for a decade, at least. It just keeps getting better, and which is why it’s recently received a Michelin recommendation. La Maruca specializes in modern Cantabrian cuisine. Best known for its largest city, Santander, Cantabria lies on the Northern Atlantic coast of Spain. The seafood in Cantabria is some of the finest in the world. If you go to a seafood market in the region, the wide array of crustaceans, mollusks, and finned fish will amaze you. It’s hard to believe we accept such minimal variety in the U.S.
We made La Maruca our first dinner in Madrid because it’s reliable and lively, fashionable but not overly formal. And the food never disappoints.
Here’s what we ordered:
– Pimientos de Isla – assorted bell peppers, roasted to perfection and served simply with salt and their own juices
– Alcachofas en plancha – a peeled, trimmed artichoke, flattened and grilled, then served on a bed of onions and wild mushrooms, topped with a fried egg
– Merluza a la plancha – grilled hake, a fish we only have a skinny relative of in the United States. If you come to Spain, order merluza often. It’s a mild, hearty, delicious fish. I’ll go so far as to say it’s my very favorite fish,
– Cordero al horno – deboned lamb (I believe it’s the rib section), served with delectable, rich potatoes cooked in lamb fat
– Gin & Tonics, red wine
Don’t miss La Maruca – and make your reservation well in advance for roughly 9:30PM.
2. O’Grelo – I discovered O’Grelo on our last trip to Madrid through the Michelin guide, and it was so good that I knew we’d put it at the top of our list for the next Madrid dining agenda. As a bastion of Galician cuisine in Madrid, O’Grelo has an impressive host of seafood offerings, representing the wealth of shellfish and fish found along the Galician coastline (just north of Portugal). We saw several tables ordering beautiful, gigantic steaks, as well.
O’Grelo is a happening spot well into the late hours of the evening; diners commonly sit down after 11PM on the weekends.
Here’s what we ordered:
– Jamón Ibérico – hand-sliced Ibérico ham – the hand-slicing makes a giant difference, which is why I won’t buy it in the States from the machine-slicing cheaters. Super high-quality jamón here.
– Navajas a la plancha – grilled razor clams, my favorite mollusk. Razor clams are sweet and different from any other food I’ve ever tried. We can’t get them in Texas, so I go out of my way to order them whenever they’re on the menu.
– Fried boquerones – These are fresh anchovies. They’re cleaned, and their heads are removed, but the backbones and tails remain intact, adding not only a special crunch but also a ton of calcium!
– Caldo Gallego – A classic Galician stew that’s as culturally important as America’s apple pie. Josephine loves soup, so if there’s ever a good one on the menu, I make sure to order it for her. A great soup will redeem even a mediocre meal for her. This one is hearty because of its chorizo base, but it’s also heavy on vegetables, like turnips, kale, and potatoes, so my veggie-loving daughter is a fan.
– Arroz con pulpo y almejas –Just as Italians have their risotto, Spaniards have their own approach to rice. In Spain, they never add dairy or cheese to rice (or, at least, not that I’ve seen). Instead, they invest in the broth, making a rich, colorful, flavorful foundation to turn plain rice grains into pure goodness. At O’Grelo, most of the rice dishes capitalize on so we went with a seafood-based rice that incorporated two of our favorite ingredients: octopus and clams
3. El Landó – I probably don’t need to discuss El Landó. I’ve written about it before. But I just can’t stop myself. The restaurant is an institution, popular with Madrileños and foreigners alike. It’s super old-school, super Spanish, and super special. Easily one of my favorite restaurants in the world. At El Landó, we always get the huevos estrellados, sunny side up eggs over French fries, cut and tossed together at the table to envelop the crispy potatoes in velvety eggs. It’s outrageously delectable. We follow that with the perfectly cooked churrasco cut of steak, which serves two people. Since Josephine started coming with us, we’ve also added the beef consommé to our regular rotation; she could eat a vat of the crystal-clear broth. If you come, you also need to get the bandeja de tomates, which is a paper-thin layer of tomatoes, flavored ever so slightly with garlic, salt, and olive oil. AND you must get the jamón with the pan de cristal. Pan de cristal is essentially pan con tomate, but the bread is super thin and crunchy, so it breaks like crystal in your mouth. El Landó is worth traveling all the way to Spain for. You’ll get the same waiters that have been there for decades, order a bottle of the trusty house-labeled wine, and have a meal you’ll be talking about until the next time you get to descend the wooden staircase into the darkly paneled comedor, filled with white tablecloths and white-tablecloth service.
4. Las Tortillas de Gabino – We just tried this restaurant for the first time on our most recent trip to Madrid, drawn by the novel takes on the humble tortilla (FYI in Spain, a tortilla bears no resemblance to the ones served in Mexican establishments; it’s a delicious dish unto itself, comprised of diced or thinly sliced potatoes, olive oil, and eggs). At Las Tortillas de Gabino, the standard tortilla Española is dressed up a bit, with toppings like pulpo a la Gallega (a traditional, simple octopus steamed with paprika) and gambas con salsa picantita de tomates (shrimp with a spicy tomato sauce). We chose the tortilla with truffles because I can’t resist a truffle. It was good, but I think I’ll go with something different next time, something with tomatoes or seafood. What I will order again are the lentejas estofadas (stewed lentils). They were insane. And I would get the presa Ibérica again – a beautiful pork loin, seared to a perfect medium rare and served with gorgeous wild mushrooms. What’s not to love?
5. Sottosopra – Late on January 1, we wandered into Sottosopra, an Italian restaurant located in a hip little enclave off Calle Jorge Juan in Barrio Salamanca. I hadn’t made a reservation, which is unlike me, but I didn’t know how we’d be feeling after a hefty New Year’s lunch. As it turned out, we were all hungry (of course, we were – it was 10:15PM!), and I knew Josephine might welcome the chance to eat some pasta. Sottosopra turned out to be the perfect choice. The pasta with truffles was great, as was the grilled octopus, and the service was delightful, especially given the fact that we walked in basically at closing. I now understand why this place is always crowded, and we will definitely be back. It was so good, we totally forgot to take pictures this time.
