By Joel Singleton, Corporate Beverage Manager
My favorite restaurant experience was Cal Xim. All the vegetables that came to our table were outstanding! Artichokes have never been high on my list as enjoyable foods, but the way this place roasted them on an open fire grill in the kitchen caught my attention. Even Bart from our West Hartford location had a hand with cooking these. Our pictures from the trip of this particular food will definitely do it justice. I did pick artichokes as my favorite for the day, but I can honestly say that all vegetables that came to the table were outstanding.
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My favorite drinks was a smoked cardamom infused gin, served neat. Found this at XIX bar, a gintonic bar in Barcelona. This place was an eye opener. 30 or more gins placed on shelves behind the bartenders, and 15 more infusions beautifully lined up on the bar. After spending the entire week making our way up the coast to Barcelona from restaurant to restaurant, I had plenty of questions for the Bar manager at XIX. I found myself behind the bar chatting it up about their style of ice cubes, bar tools, design, and how do they infuse their spirits. Enzo the manager was a fantastic host.
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During our vineyard tour for this day I was amazed when we stopped to see an actual live science experiment! 400 different grapes all being grown on the same plot of land for research and study. I am still in fascinated by how much time and energy goes into making wine. I feel that a lot of people in this world take a glass wine for granted because they don’t get to see everything that goes into bottling grapes. I can sum that experience up in one quote, “through hardship comes enlightenment.” Vines are stressed and are worked as hard as possible along with everyone involved in the process to produce something so easily accessible to the general public. Can’t forget!!!!
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Image may be NSFW.
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We also got to celebrate Eric’s birthday! Not everyone gets the chance to visit a faraway country as we did. But to spend his 30th in Spain has to be the experience of a lifetime.
Since I moved to Connecticut from Toronto 14 years ago, I have been dining at Barcelona restaurants. I had never experienced a dining experience like what was provided at these restaurants and loved every aspect of it, everything from the small plated tapas, cured meats and cheeses to the extensive wine collection hand selected by our Beverage Director. After spending one week in Spain, I realized why Sasa and Andy created this concept and culture of “Barcelona Wine Bar.” What I can take back to our guests is a whole new love and appreciation for what we do and why we do it. Through this understanding and appreciation, I am now more enthusiastic about our culture and the concepts we create from an idea that was born halfway around the world.
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Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
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