Toledo Spain is very religious hence the term “holy toledo”. It is also famous for knife makers there are many knock offs, but it is easy to tell the originals when you walk into a knife makers shop and he is missing fingers. The knife maker was very old and he has been making knives all his life.
Chefs are knife people, and we were like kids in a candy shop. Many of the knives handles were hand carved bone and antler, and the blades are hand forged. We bought some knives that will be with us and our families for the rest of our lives.
We stopped along the way at this really beautiful biodynamic winery. We pulled up in the car and had to knock on the front door of the home of the wine maker. He was very gracious to us and took us through the wine making process and a very nice tasting of each of the wines he produces. It was really a special experience and the wines were so unique. We filled the car with wine and kept on driving.
I remember we started the meal off with snacks, sardines on grilled toast, the lightest crispiest crackers and the best chorizo in the world. Kyle ate at Etxebarri last time he was in Spain and he said that the one thing that was a revelation, that almost brought him to tears was the chorizo. He was right, it was amazing. The entire expeirence was surreal in its beauty, but also very real from a chef perspective (we saw a cook in the parking lot trying to catch a 5 minute nap in his car with his legs hanging out the door). Working at a top rated restaurant is intense.
We had fresh cheese with fresh herbs, and a perfect tomato,a beautiful squid filled with caramelized onion, an oyster with seaweed and the most beautiful beef, it was rich and tender and charred with flavour. We also had sea urchin with white truffles and delicious prawns. We had wine pairings with all.
They had sheep and cows roaming the hills surrounding the restaurant and we could watch them out the window while we ate the fresh milk sorbet with red berry essence. The incredible depth of flavour from the fresh milk of their grass feed cows was inspirational. The detail of the miniardes, tea and espresso service was wonderful from the exceptional selection of loose leaf teas to the adorable doilies that were under the sugar bowls.
Anna and I went for a walk in the rolling fields with the sheep after lunch. They would not let me pet them.
We could not get enough iberico ham when we were in Spain, Bryan would walk from street to street sniffing out his next plate of ham. So I decided it would be a good idea to buy a whole ham to have in the car with me in the back seat to slice while we were driving. It was my special job to feed everyone ham.
When I was in Vancouver a spanish rep came to the Salt Cellar and I did a serrano/iberico ham tasting. I thought it was amazing that the iberico pigs ate so many acorns that their fat was marbled and full of good fats similar to those found in olive oil. It was hard to believe that there could be as many acorns around that could feed that many pigs. As soon as we were in the ham region their were a million acorns all over in different stages of ripeness.
We would stop on the side of the road and Bryan would make us sandwiches. He also bought an amazing Opinel ham knife so we had a proper slicer. We pretty much ate olives and sandwiches and drank beer and sherry the whole way.
Imagine looking at all that beauty on mushrooms. The patterns and the quivering leaves it was all too much. I also at one point saw a beam of sunlight shining through the canopy of trees and two butterflies fraternizing in the beam fluttering around each other in circles. The moment was magical and seemed to last forever. I could walk right up to them and they wouldn’t fly away.
They have craft beer in Spain. But interestingly enough they do not have much of a cocktail scene. It is all about the sherry, wine, beer, cava and cidre or cider.