Oriol’s face lights up whenever a customer selects his favorite pintxo from one of the 49 different trays, beautifully displayed at Euskal Etxea, the bar where he works and the first bar in Barcelona to serve traditional Basque pintxos. One wonders how a small slice of bread topped with a chickpea fritter, jamón serrano and romesco sauce spiked with a toothpick that costs just €1.95 can make someone so happy. We try one and we immediately see why.
A pintxo (literally “spike”) is an individual bite-sized snack consisting of a combination of ingredients, placed on a small slice of bread, neatly pinned together with a toothpick or skewer. In the Basque Country, where pintxos originate, these diminutive snacks are the perfect excuse for socializing with friends while sipping a glass of zurito (beer), txacolí (local white wine) or cider.
Pintxos took Barcelona by storm a few years ago and Calle Blai in the Poble Sec district soon became a mecca for these tasty bites; these days virtually every bar on the street now offers pintxos. Koska was one of the first pintxo bars to open in the area. “I would come here as a customer to get my daily fix of Gilda,” says Koska’s manager, Nio, while pouring cider in the traditional north
ern Spanish way (his right arm stretched and pouring from as high as possible). “Eventually the owners asked me to come and work for them!” The Gilda pintxo is comprised of an anchovy, a spicy guindilla pepper and a pitted olive, all secured by the customary skewer; this is probably the most classic pintxo of all time. Nio’s current addiction, however, is the delicious tortilla de txaca (€3.50), which consists of layers of potato omelet and crab salad. This cozy little bar also offers less conventional, more inventive pintxos using top-quality artisanal ingredients, such as Gorgonzola cheese with cardamom-pear compote (€1.80).
Blai Tonight is just a stone’s throw from Koska but serves up a very different take on pintxos; they specialize in what Spaniards call pintxos de batalla (“battle pintxos”): 40 different €1 basic bites made with just a few ingredients. While not the most sophisticated in town, they certainly hit the spot. The mini-burger and the croquette are particular favorites with the hungry young crowds of locals, students and backpackers this noisy bar attracts.
Businesspeople with empty stomachs and more discerning palates usually head to the stylish Pinxus, in the business district of Diagonal. Toni, owner and chef, wanted to put a Catalan twist on the traditional Basque pintxos and created a range of 25 extremely elaborate masterpieces, such as his superb tartar de fuet (dry-cured pork sausage tartare, €1.95) and his mouthwatering white sausage with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onion and aioli mousse (€1.95). Toni’s mother, who helps behind the bar, told us how he served 600 servings of the tartar de fuet at the last Barcelona Fashion Week. “They vanished within minutes! Even the most calorie-obsessed models fell for them.”
Published on August 19, 2015
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