Tag Archives: sevilla tapas

a day off…

02 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by in sevilla, work

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Really there is no such thing as a DAY OFF for me. Often people say to me… you need to DISCONNECT, you need to take some ME TIME, you need to RELAX. And while I appreciate – and can even understand – their concern, actually, I’m good. In fact, I’ve never been better. Because the very naïve comment I made back in my early twenties, when asked what I wanted to do with my life – “I’m not really sure WHAT it is, but I just want it to be what I would do anyhow when I get up in the morning” – has actually come to be true. This is my job. And it is also my life.

So on this particular day off – which for me means I don’t have any food tours booked – I went out about midday, after answering emails and finishing up some details for my accountant, and thought it would be nice to have some manzanilla at La Azotea… you know, so I could do #manzanillamonday on Instagram… and so we did that.

Then it was home again, to try out a new “smashed potato” recipe I’d found online, which turned out to be amazing. And my friend Peter @SVQConcierge came over to have lunch and also hang out and Netflix with me and the cats.

After that? Peter went home but I still had a bit more stuff I wanted to do. Some photo editing, a few more emails to answer. And then it was time for bed. So yeah, I guess there never is anything for me as a TOTAL DAY OFF. But I don’t even think I’d want one. My work, my life… it’s all the same thing.

sevilla tapas in the washington post!

08 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in media, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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photo by Sylvie Bigar

The last time my friend Sylvie was in town we talked about her coming back to do an article about the evolution of tapas in Sevilla. For awhile it looked like it wasn’t going to happen, then suddenly it was all systems go and before long we were meeting at her hotel for what would become a fun and delicious three-day Tapeo Extremo.

As you can imagine, I was very excited to be a part of this project, but was sworn to secrecy about it until the article was published – which was yesterday! Aside from obviously being pleased at having my tapas tours mentioned in the Washington Post (!!), I was also very excited to see friends and colleagues that I admire getting some well-deserved international attention. You can read the article here…

In Seville, Spain, young chefs are creating the next generation of tapas

 

girl crush

30 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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Lately I’ve been going to some very old-school tapas bars (some for the first time!). The other day I went to Bodega San José, a place I hadn’t been to for at least 15 years (!!!). As usual I got to talking with the barman and found out that the bar is 135 years and still in the same family. This is a photo of the present owners, Nicolás and his mother Rosario. It was Rosario’s father’s cousins, Rodrigo and Pablo, who founded the bar.

By the time we left I was completely in love with Rosario. Not only was she up for some photos (her son less so, but he went along), she told me about her upcoming cataract operation, saying how much she was looking forward to seeing clearly out of her left eye again, though by the way she filleted those anchovies I reckoned she could do it blindfolded. While she chatted with me she held my hands in hers and smiled that beautiful smile. Swoon…

Not surprisingly they are not on any social media, so I am going to put their Sevilla Tapas review on a PDF, print it out, and bring it to them at the bar. I think Rosario would like that.

joel & kelly

30 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by in friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, twitter, twitter friends

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Just over four years ago Joel & Kelly first came to Sevilla and we went out on both a Market & Tapas Tour and a Gourmet Tapas Tour together. This time no assistance from me was required, other than to give them a few tips about some new (or new to them) bars they might want to visit. But of course we had to meet up for a bit of sherry, tapas and chat. It was great to catch up. xx

family-run bars

27 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, work

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brothers and previous owners Antonio & Lupe

With over 3,000 tapas bars in Sevilla, and more than 300 listed and rated on my Sevilla Tapas website, you can imagine that keeping up with new openings and revisiting bars to update their reviews is a very time consuming (and expensive!) endeavour. Sometimes even years can pass between visits, as was the case when I stopped in at Bar Bistec the other day and I noticed that the last time I’d been there was in 2012.

At first I noticed that the place had been spruced up a bit, and that they had much younger staff than before. I recalled meeting the two brothers who owned the place on my previous visit but didn’t see them around, so I got talking to one of the young barmen and showed him my website on my phone, and as he was scrolling through the photos he said – “that’s my dad and my uncle!”.

Turns out that since my last visit there had been a “changing of the guard” and now the two sons of the two brothers are now running the show. So I got the boys to pose in the same place their fathers had posed five years previously, as you can see. They got such a kick out of it, and so did I. All part of loving my job. 

cousins and co-owners José Antonio & Lupe