La Barraca

Occasion: Dinner with Winnie
Location: La Barraca, Reina 29 in Madrid, Spain
Edibles: salad with tuna and anchovies; sautéed mushrooms; seafood paella

Musings: At 10:00, we headed out to dinner. When we arrived, the restaurant was three-quarters empty, as it had been when we'd gone the night before. So why all the rigamarole with the reservations? I find it hard to believe that the restaurant was completely packed between the hours of 8:00 and 10:00, but just happened to be deserted when we were there. I don't know - maybe they were temporarily short-staffed and could only take limited resos?

Anyway... Winnie got the salad and I got the mushrooms to start. Both apps were good.

The feature of the night was, of course, the massive skillet of seafood paella.

The menu calls this a serving for two, but I think it's really enough food for four people. They served us each a gigantic plate...

... and there was still more rice for seconds!

While perfectly fine and workmanlike, the paella didn't rock my world or anything. I think it looked better than it tasted. And yes, my palate was somewhat compromised (more below), but Winnie mostly agreed. (Though, for Winnie, I'm not sure any paella could compete with the memory of the magical squid ink one she had in Barcelona.)

[Postscript: Little did I know, this was to be my last real meal in Spain. By the time this meal started, my system was already out of whack. First, I wasn't the least bit hungry. Which was strange, because I'd spent about three hours that afternoon perambulating around the Prado. Second, I had a low-level headache. I picked at the food and just generally felt listless. By the end of dinner, I could hardly hold my head up and felt really wretched and nauseous. Winnie helped me stagger back to the hotel, and I threw up about five times that night. Ugh. I spent the entire next day in bed, slowly sipping flat, room temperature ginger ale and sleeping a lot. I missed the chance to see Picasso's Guernica, and a return visit to the Mercado de San Miguel. Sniff sniff. By dinnertime on Monday, I felt good enough to nibble on a few things from room service. By dinnertime on Tuesday, I had mostly recovered and we were able to eat out again.]