Seville, Spain

Our first night in Seville may have been the single best meal we had in Spain. Trying to find places in Spain was hard enough in general; getting used to the time change and Spanish eating times (not much opens before 8 pm, at the earliest, unless you want to be completely surrounded by other tourists). We selected very carefully and were able to find this place a five-minute walk from our hotel. English-speaking abilities varied but we had no difficulty whatsoever. And virtually every plate we chose was excellent.

It’s a small place with three small rooms and a young staff. There was never a lag in service. We got there early (to the—probably imagined—eye-rolling that accompanies early-bird tourists), our initial server had no English and no particular warmth or interest. Early on, he was “replaced” by a couple others who had both English-language skills and much more warmth. As a result, what started out unpromisingly, turned out to be a highly enjoyable, relaxing evening with great food (and sherry). Why this place has a French name is beyond me, but we’d both return in a heartbeat.



Here are the menus; English menus are sometimes available, but there’s generally no predicting which places will have them.


Salmorejo

Salmorejo is a specialty of Andalucia and since Seville is in the heart of Andalucia, it seemed like a logical choice. Tomatoes, garlic, bread, vinegar and olive oil. Served cold with a little diced Serrano ham (adding the perfect amount of salt) and a hard-boiled (quail in this case) egg. Very thick and unbelievably creamy. Although we had it several places during our trip, this was the hand’s-down champion. The flavor of the tomatoes was fresh and intense and the soup quite refreshing. Although we were there in November, it’s still pretty much summer in Seville, so it worked perfectly.


Jamon iberico de bellota

Not much be said here except that (1) this was a half-order and (2) this is the premium acorn-fed stuff. When in Spain…. I think “extraordinary” would safely sum it up.


Filetes de Achoa de Santoña “Don Bocarte Seleccion”

A very simple dish of anchovies on strips of toast. It wouldn’t have been particularly noteworthy (exceptional quality of the anchovies notwithstanding) without the tomato jam. I was so taken with the (slightly sweet) jam and how well it married with the anchovies that I didn’t focus as much as I should have (in retrospect) about what must have been in the jam.


Huevo campero roto con foie

A simple dish “souped up.” Underneath the eggs, french fries. That’s it: fried potatoes and a fried egg. (Oh, and a piece of foie.) The foie came dangerously close to gilding the lily. I’d read that this dish is more than the sum of its parts and though I can’t explain why that would be so, I can confirm that it is. Wonderful!


Pluma iberica con patatas baby aromatizadas

Pork loin, but we chose it because it was on our list of things to try if we found them on a menu. Very tender meat, simply done potatoes…a luscious course.


Bacalao con ali oli de hierbabuena gratinado

Probably the single best dish we had in Spain: cod with a spearmint alioli. Sounded a little…unusual but it turned out to be simply exquisite. Period.

Dinner, about $60, including everything.

(Second night to come.)

Petit Comité
Calle Dos de Mayo, 30
Seville, Spain
+34 954 229 595
Lunch 1:00 to 4:30 pm
Dinner 8:00 to 11:30 pm
Closed Mondays

Our second night, we thought we'd try an old-time classic, Enrique Becerra Restaurante. Early though we were, there were a couple tables of Spaniards already well-settled in.

Downstairs, tapas. Upstairs, dinner. So we chose downstairs and were more than a little surprised to be the only tourists there. Table after table of Spaniards came in, most folks from Seville, it seemed, not even Spaniards from other parts of Spain. Enrique Becerra has the feel of a place that’s been around forever; not top of the line, perhaps, but old, classic, solid and reliable. And that, in a nutshell was how our dinner seemed. Good and solid; nothing exceptional and only one dish that was a mistake.


the specials menu


Atun fresco a la plancha con salmorejo
Having had a fabulous salmorejo the previous evening (see my post on Petit Comité), I was a sucker for this dish, not even being certain what it would be. The hunk of tuna was cooked just about right (perhaps a trifle overdone) and the salmorejo was, um, fine. A pale shadow of the version at Petit Comité, which has probably ruined me for life.


Albondigas de cordero con hierbabuena
Lamb meatballs with mint. These were surprising only in that their lambiness was attenuated. The mint was a nice touch and, though it is a common enough accompaniment in some lamb presentations, I confess that I was curious to see how it would work with meatballs. Conclusion: quite nicely, thank you.


Ensaladilla de gambas y patatas
A relatively common combination here: shrimp and potato salad. It seems somehow offputting to me in the abstract but, I must confess, very enjoyable in practice. The tiny shrimp were omnipresent and added an unexpected tang to the dish, helping also make it lighter than potato salad often can be.


Alcachofas con jamon
Artichokes with Spanish ham. I found the dish to be…pleasant. Yes, “pleasant” is about right. I know: damning with faint praise. I guess that cooked artichokes aren’t my thing.


Queso de cabra gratinado con cebolla caramelizada
Goat cheese with caramelized onion (and preserves that appeared to be lingonberries, though I couldn’t be certain).
Lovely. A simple dish but very enjoyable…one of our favorites of the evening.


Carillada de buey al vino blanc
Ox. Beef, if you prefer. Think pot roast. I guess, in the end, I was slightly disappointed because although it was done very nicely, in the end it seemed to be “just” a hunk of pot roast. No unusual flavors, no nuances. Nothing whatsoever to complain about but also nothing whatsoever to highlight.


Ajoblanco
An extremely disappointing mistake. Ajo blanco is a regional classic, cold soup of almonds and garlic. Sort of a white gazpacho. I like garlic. But the garlic in this version was so extraordinarily overpowering as to overpower everything else. I couldn’t abide it. Smooth and creamy though it was, it made me wonder only what another version might be like.


Picos camperos (like miniature, one-inch long breadsticks). I memorialized this package because it appeared frequently in our breadbaskets and, for one, found them addictive. Great accompaniments and with a terrific crunch. A nice change of pace from fresh bread, no matter how good and often a lovely textural counterpoint to what else may be going on with the entrees.

Dinner, about $50, including two sherries, in total.

Restaurante Enrique Becerra
Address: Calle Gamazo, 2
Seville, Spain
+34 954 21 30 49
http://www.enriquebecerra.com
Lunch 1:00PM–4:30PM
Dinner 8:00PM–12AM

That looks fun.

Gypsy Boy wrote:Why this place has a French name is beyond me...

The French expression "en petit comité," in reference to decisions made or power held by a small group of people, is used without translation in Spanish. It is less common in Spanish than it is in English to use French expressions (e.g., á la mode, amuse-bouche, bon appetít, je ne sais quoi, laissez-faire) as they are without translating them. "Petit comité" as a restaurant name seems to me to be intended to evoke the feeling of a place where small groups can meet privately to talk, decide, and plot.

Ah! Thanks for the explanation.