Gastronomic autumn in Logroño
Logrono in autumn. Forgive us for the easy rhyme, but this season is one of the best to visit the capital of La Rioja. The mere fact of crossing the borders of our beloved La Rioja means that the landscape becomes a thousand and one colors.
The harvests have finished in most of the wineries and vineyards, after giving us their precious grapes begin to change color. The landscape is bucolic, manual autumn.
And there Logroño awaits us, surrounded by vines -and the Ebro- and with the aroma of vintage. Logroño is artistic, cultural, gastronomic, historical... and modern. At the beginning of September it was celebrated the sixth edition of Concentrico, the International Festival of Architecture and Design, that turns the city into an avant-garde epicenter.
Franco-Spanish wineries, with more than 125 years of history
Lovisual 2020 has just finished, an event that through interventions on facades and shop windows of shops and gastronomic spaces , manages to make visible both creators and the spaces themselves.
Throughout the month of October (weekends) leisure program takes place 'Participatory Culture' , with activities and shows for all audiences . Logrono does not stop.
And precisely another of its aspects, the gastronomic one, is one of the ones that most attracts us, because it is lived at street level and even underground, with the famous openwork , What are they ancient underground cellars that cover much of the historic helmet.
To experience the world of wine in Logroño, the city proposes a visit to several of their cellars , as the Campo Viejo, Marquis of Murrieta or Marquis of Vargas , to name a few.
One of the most iconic is Bodegas Franco-Españolas, which just 5 minutes walk from the center of Logroño , offers the possibility of learning more about this century-old winery with guided tours and tastings of some of their best wines , What Diamond or Bourdon , which have been in the making since 1890.
Mushrooms from El Soriano
A walk between Rioja and seasonal products in the San Blas Market It whets our appetite. And it is there, a few meters from the food market , is one of the great attractions of the city, La Laurel. Go through Logroño and not go for skewers down Laurel Street, it would be a crime.
Also known as the 'elephants path' , for that of get out of their bars , over the years, has become a symbol and a whole gastronomic reference at national and international level.
Moreover, at the end of June, after three months closed, its restaurants reopened and they did it like the first gastronomic area of the country to receive the 'Safe Hospitality' seal.
What did it imply? What restaurants and workers had received safety training courses and activities , in order to guarantee that alternating in La Laurel is 100% safe for everyone.
Knowing all this, the time has come to go to the skewer-pot . Many of the restaurants make it easy, because they have specialized in a single skewer , as is the case of Bar Angel or El Soriano , which only -and no more is needed- serve the iconic mushroom with shrimp and house sauce , which accompanied with a Rioja , tastes like blessed glory.
Bravas of the Jubera
we can't let go the bravas from the Jubera, the battered ear from the Perchas, the potato omelette with spicy sauce from the Sebas or the tomato salad from the Soldier from Tudelilla. There is more. Torreznos in La Fontana, Moorish pincho in Tío Agus... And all of them with all the security measures implemented, for a quiet enjoyment.
Did you ever think that Logroño might not be so far from Japan? That's because there is Kiro Sushi restaurant. Little word that is the closest thing to the experience that is lived in a sushi bar in any of the cities Japan, without leaving Spain.
All of this has been created by Felix Jimenez, who would only need to have slanted eyes to become a true Japanese.
His sensitivity and virtuosity are overwhelming, for the only 10 diners who manage to sit, per day, around his bar. Trained in Tokyo with master Yoshikawa Takamasa, he is a great connoisseur of Japanese culture, so much so that he has made it his philosophy of life and work. Her only target of him? Customer happiness. And he gets it in spades.
Sitting there, you don't miss an iota of what the real experience is like an itamae. Félix works with fish from all the Spanish seas and with jewels from other latitudes, such as Kivsøy salmon from Norway, that he presents to the vine shoot grill and there in a delicate nigiri.
Felix Jimenez at the Kiro Sushi restaurant
His style of work is Edomae sushi, from the Edo period , a time when conservation and refrigeration techniques were not so advanced and fish were often eaten cooked, aged or macerated.
White prawn, cuttlefish, bonito, salmon roe, bluefin tuna, eel in three styles... Or a real round trip to the Land of the Rising Sun. Between now and the end of the year, everything is complete, but Reservations open on December 1 for January, February and March. We would set an alarm...
On the same street and about to turn two years old, is the Juan Carlos Ferrando restaurant. His chef arrived in Spain in 2001 and spent some time working in the mythical Hotel Masip, in Ezcaray.
How could he not fall in love with La Rioja? He also worked with Martín Berasategui, at the Hotel Viura, in Alameda or Guria in Bilbao. And in 2018 he opened the doors of his homonymous restaurant, where he practices essential, classic, but very refined cuisine.
Juan Carlos Ferrando Restaurant: a temple in which to taste the fish of the north
Work with two menus, 'A walk through La Rioja' , made with products from the area and 'Hondarribia', with the influence of Villa Magalean hotel restaurant which also has Juan Carlos as director of the restaurant.
In this second option, come into play the fish of the north , which blend wonderfully with the endemic products of La Rioja. The place also has no waste, because combines design with good gastronomy , to provide diners with a round experience.
Tondeluna hake
Nor can we leave Logroño without paying our respects to Francis Paniego's kitchen . There is Tondeluna, the informal restaurant of the Riojan chef. In a diaphanous space conceived by the architecture studio Picado y de Blas , with long tables and the kitchen in sight, give free rein to their creativity.
It is the perfect place to try the Russian salad Tondeluna, the highlights Marisa's croquettes , chef's mother's recipe, white beans with chorizo -to warm the body in autumn- or the always essential Roman style hake confit at 45º , which they serve with peppers and a cream of rice. To lick your fingers.
Another good option is La Cocina de Ramón. From the Paniego school came Ramón Piñeiro, who practices product and seasonal cuisine in his restaurant next to the food market.
The Riojan orchard comes into action and even has its own menu, with dishes as suggestive as leeks from the garden of varea vacuum cooked and seasoned with almond cream or roasted spring onions, with poached free-range egg and Pedroso nuts.
Peas from Ramon's kitchen
Carnivores have to taste their suckling lamb chops , cooked with vine shoot oil, accompanied by potato cream and roasted peppers.
Ice cream in the fall? And in winter too. Although just in autumn the della Sera ice cream parlor close its doors, they will reopen at christmas , with surprises that they will work on these months.
With Fernando Saenz , who is known as the chef of the cold and his wife Angelines González in front, this ice cream parlor has become a place of reference. All creativity comes out of Obrador Grate , where this couple works with nature and the environment.
White wine lees ice cream fermented in barrels
One of its most interesting bets is the collection of the frozen vineyard . From everything that is discarded from the vintages, they manage to make ice cream. of vineyard cheese, of white wine lees fermented in barrels, of must or soul of supurao, a sweet wine made in La Rioja.
This year, for example, they have incorporated novelties such as Entrena pear ice cream with toffee . To do so, they use conference pears grown in La Rioja, from more than 50 years ago. We look forward to the arrival of Christmas...