This morning Mother Nature has bestowed upon us a roaring sea, an ocean alive with the pounding surf.  Large over-head waves roll into the Grande Plage and it’s a surfer’s paradise – it is 7 am and the water is already filled with wet suit-clad surfers waiting for the right wave.  I am as excited as a little boy feeling the waves brush his toes for the first time. The smell and feel of the ocean and the way the sand cradles my feet as I walk brings me back to my teenage years when I would surf all day and cook and eat all night. Those were formative years on my path to becoming a chef.

I spent the day surfing and enjoyed a quick bistro lunch and a cold French beer, both delicious complements to the taste of the salty air on my lips. I head back to my room to prepare for my trip once again into the Pyrenees, this time to Errenteria, a small mountain town north of San Sebastian.

Tonight’s dinner will be at Mugaritz. I discovered this little gem a year ago when I had lunch here. Now I am back for dinner. You know when you’ve dined in a restaurant and had the BEST meal of your life, practically a religious moment; and you dream of nothing but returning? You know it’s impossible to recapture that magical first experience because the next time you go you’ll have the expectations you didn’t have the first time.

The chef at Mugaritz is Andoni Luis Aduriz and this young chef’s soul and connection with the earth are truly amazing. The chef’s sense of taste and creativity is truly almost one of a kind. As I roll up the hillside and into the parking lot my expectations are high, after all I love this restaurant I think the chef is one of the most amazing cooks and thinkers I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

We are greeted at the door by the sweet host – the people here are so incredibly warm and hospitable and I feel welcome everywhere I go. The host is a tall, handsome man and he welcomes us back, remembering every detail of last year’s lunch. He even asks me how the reopening of the Mansion is going! He then escorts us to the barn, a relaxing small house with a rustic bar and lounge.  Two glasses of Billecart Salmon Brut Rose suddenly appears, they remembered it is my favorite.  This is getting spooky! I have only dined here once before and they remember everything.

As we sip our champagne, we eat potatoes cooked in white clay with garlic aioli and sweet Spanish peppers fried in tempura batter. We’re enjoying the great conversation and then the host reappears to let us know that the chef(s) are ready for us.  We’re escorted into a small but amazing kitchen, and the room is filled with a team of 20 cooks and walls and shelves filled with chef toys. We’re introduced to the Chefs de cuisine, sous chefs and various members of the team. Chef Aduriz appears with red cheeks and a big smile and a very gracious welcome back. We talk about the year that has passed and exchange stories of travel and cooking, he is an interesting and unique man.

Greetings aside, it is time to experience the cuisine. The captain informs us that the chef has prepared a special meal for us. We smile and await the first of 13 (!) courses to arrive, all perfectly paired with wines from around the world  – even some sake. The Somm  must be Michael Flynn’s long-lost twin brother they are both unbelievable experts in wine pairing.   We experience flavors from the sea, the land and the mountains —  most of it is from the chef’s garden  - the rest is from the surrounding hillsides and nearby ocean.

Heavenly dessert

Course after course our expectations are not only exceed they are blown away.  We feasted on clams, seaweed broths and consommés, charred veal with squid ink, honeyed fish stew, braised pork tails and langoustine – and those are only some of the highlights. A warm pumpkin bite with sweet and bitter accents is the best dessert I have ever tasted. In fact, this is the best MEAL I have ever experienced. It’s so clean, so real, so soulful –filled with respect and love of the ingredients. You can literally taste the love in this chef’s food. I hope I have been able to give the Mansion’s diners a dining experience that is remarkable and that they will remember for a long time, just as I’ll remember this one for all of my days.  I think that is truly a common thread among all chefs – we all want to make people happy and so completely in awe of what can be done with nature’s raw ingredients.

Unfortunately, it is time to say goodbye to Adoni and his team. We exchange goodbyes, promising e-mails and updates as we are escorted to our car by the captain. I drive down the mountain with the most amazing memory of a very special place filled with very special people ….everyone should experience the Magic of Mugaritz! Bravo Andoni, Bravo!

Yours truly with Adoni

The quick ride from Biarritz to San Sebastian can be made longer by not knowing where you are going, as is the case tonight. I have my list of restaurants and I’ve driven through here before but somehow that doesn’t help.  I have come to learn that the one amazing thing these great restaurants all have in common is that they are all in quite unique locations, almost remote locations, which makes the journey even more exciting. Tonight’s destination is the San Sebastian restaurant Akelarre, a Michelin one-star restaurant. The beautiful modern architecture of the restaurant has been perched on a cliff overlooking the sea for 30 years.

Americans are generally a punctual group, Europeans, the Spanish in particular, maybe not so much.  They would forgive me for being late but I want to be on time and I’m getting anxious, both for the meal and for the deadline. Off the autopista, through the winding hills of the Pyrenees, along the river, up the mountain, down the mountain and up again, a half hour late but we have found this beautiful place.

The modern architecture of the restaurant is a stark contrast to what I’m accustomed to seeing in small-town Spain, but the austerity of the exterior doesn’t match the warmth of the interior.   The staff greets us with kindness and obvious pride and I feel so welcome and grateful to be here. We sit down, have some champagne and I listen intently as I’m told about the four different menus.

Chef Pedro Subijana has owned and operated Akelarre for 30 years. One chef, one kitchen, 30 years. Chef Subijana has reinvented his cuisine over and over this is why I have chosen his restaurant first. It is necessary for a chef to reinvent while holding on to tradition and history and yet move the kitchen forward all at once. Sound familiar?  Pedro has obviously reinvented himself in the style of El Buili with a great sense of humor and a great sense of tradition. He clearly sees the past, the present and the future.

I like this chef’s room set up. I am here to eat, but more importantly to watch and learn. The chef is big on the molecular, but he does it with a natural touch. There is injected pasta made from broths, vegetables made of protein to look like vegetables, foie gras molded with nitrogen and my mind is reeling. But let’s forget about the molecular, let talk about the visceral …local squid cooked to ways one ala plancha the other cooked in 5 different types of salt then rinsed in its own consommé, Dover sole so fresh it is still quivering, rouget or red mullet so sweet, so tender, monkfish liver. It was a feast for all senses. Ideas and inspiration are flying around my head like an atomic explosion. Then it all slowed down again when the chef delivered a risotto of faux vegetables. Each vegetable is cooked in its own juice until it looks and tastes like risotto -  all topped with an egg yolk poached in beet juice. This is what a chef’s dreams are made of! Oh, and don’t worry, you will have my translation of these masterful dishes in the Mansion’s Chef’s Room.

Outstanding seafood

We shake hands with the staff and converse with the sweet handle bar-moustached chef. I invite them all to the Mansion “next time they are in Dallas.”  We drive off into to the night. This was the kind of meal that will will stay with me for the rest of my life.  With the ocean on one side the mountains on the other, I am in heaven as I drive my little car up and down the roads of the Pyrenees, thinking what tomorrow will bring. I can’t wait !

When I was making plans for this amazing journey, I decided that one of my top priorities was to visit the best restaurants in northern Spain. My list was compiled from those that reign on the Michelin list, those that play with molecular gastronomy, those with honorable mentions by Jose Andres on his PBS show, “Made in Spain,” those recommended by my chef friends and even those recommended by guests who dine at the Mansion and have shared their passion for food with me by recommending great restaurants. I made my list and booked reservations at the chosen restaurants six months ago and now, each of them are enjoying a tremendous burst of publicity and accolades.  And I know why.

Spain

I first visited the Basque country in the 80s when I was at cooking school in Paris, I came here to surf. I grew up in New York and spent a lot of time on the beach and have always loved to surf. I heard about this great surfing region near San Sebastian so I made the long drive down. I believe that everything happens for a reason, because had I not driven the Basque country side, I would have never been able to uncover these one-of-a-kind jewels.

It seems as if the Basque country and its unique style of cooking has become the latest muse of food writers and gourmands alike.  The intense reinvention of the region’s old and new chefs is a welcome renaissance.  Here there is an almost religious adherence to precise technique, pristine local flavors and fresh ingredients, and there’s an extremely traditional sense of place that captures the poetic mix of old and new.

Out of a sound sleep the alarm of my I-phone rings a catchy little jingle which usually sounds cute but this morning it sounds like the horn of a semi. It takes me several minutes of mental motivation to roll out of bed but I have a train to catch so I need to move it along. 

TGV to Biarritz

It is a rainy, cool Paris morning with virtually no traffic. My taxi takes me to the Montparnasse train station and even though it’s only 7 am, the Gare is already busy with travelers off to summer adventures or heading home after a long weekend in Paris. My breakfast isn’t particularly noteworthy – a pain au chocolate and a Coke Light (the French brand name for Diet Coke – it must be a crime to use the word “diet” in France) but it’s enough sweetness and caffeine to get me going.

I board the TGV, a bullet train that travels more than 150 miles per hour, and settle in to a plush seat where I will sit for the three hour and 15 minute ride to Biarritz.  I used to drive myself from Paris to Biarritz and it took eight to 10 hours.  It was a beautiful drive but I have much to do and a limited amount of time so I choose to take the Concorde of trains instead.

I am completely enjoying the Frenchness of trip so far when the realization that American pop culture is only a step away – the movie playing on the train is Robert DeNiro’s Ronin.  True, it’s a movie set in France, but DeNiro films are a true American art form and he is an American artist.

The movie’s over and the train stops in Bordeaux. I rent a car there and take a spin around this wine mecca.

The beach in Biarritz

This is heaven to me. Langoustine, mussels, turbot, soup de Poisson, oysters, Loup de mar, some Basque cheese and a crisp Sancerre. Oh! and the crispy French bread you always hear about some plain and some grilled with a touch of olive oil and sea salt……Chez Albert is a Biarritz landmark filled with tourists local celebs and the be-seen crowd.

I order a coupe du champagne, si vous plait and consider my meal. I’m seated near a window and I can watch the surfers at the Grand Plage catch the last waves of the day. I’ve always loved to surf and I almost wish I was out there with them, but the appeal of fresh seafood is greater than that of a good wave. The table next to me has a plateau de fruit de mer so big it could feed ten!  This is going to be a great night! I devour my seafood feast and I dream of my big surfing “come back” at dawn.  I wonder how to say “surfs up” en Francaise!