Travels and Plans

So I have been out of Bingo for a while and I haven’t been posting as much as I would like to. There are a number of reasons for this. I recently finished grad school at Binghamton University and decided to go on a 2 month hiatus from anything involving work. Europe was my destination, food and culture were my priorities. I started in perhaps the most progressive culinary country in Europe today: Spain. The food culture in Spain is huge! Local Markets litter every neighborhood. I must have visited at least 7 different and distinct markets while I was there but there was one that topped them all: La Boqueria. This space is perhaps the most famous market in Barcelona. It encompasses about 1 square NYC block in the heart of the busy Las Ramblas district. Here you can find, everything and anything. From Spanish smoked paprika to offal to beautiful artisanal cheeses and meats. It was overwhelming to say the least, I wanted to learn about everything there. The only problem is that I don’t speak Spanish, let alone Catalan so I couldn’t really ask too many questions without embarrassing myself.


If there is one thing that La Boqueria is known for it is seafood. The seafood section, located in the heart of the market, is completely run by women. You can hear their screams and boastings about their daily catch. Needless to say everything is incredibly fresh. Forget about tuna, salmon and tilapia, here you will find live stone crabs, sea snails, razor clams and rock fish just to name a few of the interesting items up for grabs.

Barcelona was really incredible. It was difficult to find a bad meal. Unlike some of the other European Countries, the Spanish have not tried to westernize their food for the American palate. They realize that their cuisine is exquisite and they don’t try to mask it.
Next up was Paris, I was quite excited to go to Paris… Maybe too excited. I had visions of Escoffier, Jacques Pepin and Daniel Boulud cooking me incredible classic French dishes. Don’t get me wrong, I ate fresh baguettes, smeared with local pates and terrines for pennies and drank great wine for just a few euro’s a bottle. But the markets were not nearly as easy to come by as in Spain. Don’t get me wrong I visited a few markets, but the famed Les Halles has moved out of the city center long ago. Now the largest market in Paris isn’t even in the city proper, it’s located in the Suburbs and is a pain in the ass to get to. Next time I go to France I am going to skip Paris and head straight for the south of France to Aix En Provence and Marseille and then up to Bordeaux in the North West.

A 3 day stint in Amsterdam was next. I wasn’t expecting much from the Dutch besides munchie food, which isn’t really ideal. To be honest, the food in Amsterdam was fare. I had a good meal at a decent Peruvian place but other than that the food seemed overly westernized and simplified. Aside from the abundance of quality shawarma available there was not much else worth talking about. Although, we did have incredible aged Gouda from a local market, the cheese had a nice sharp flavor with little crystals formed from age that contained little bursts of crisp cheese flavor when consumed. And there were the Belgium style French fries that are double fried and served with mayo and Piccalilli… Yumm…

Finally there was Berlin. Although, I sadly didn’t eat any wiener schnitzel I did consume lots of quality beer and ate some really fantastic meals. The first memorable meal was at a small pub. We watched Italy loose to some team (this was during the first rounds of the world cup) and ate wonderful light homemade spaetzle with slowly braised beef goulash. It was super tender, meaty and sweet. The braising liquid was reduced down to a sauce with some red wine and the flavors became nice and concentrated.

The other meal that we had in Berlin was far more refined and gastronomically sophisticated. The restaurant was called Berlin Modern and it had opened recently. To be honest, I don’t remember the dishes all that well because they were too complex for me to remember (and I didn’t think I would be posting a blog entry on this meal). But there was a rustic pork terrine with a micro green salad and painted mustard that was really good. Also, a freshly caught trout dish that the owner/chef assured me was caught in a river about 20 minutes outside of Berlin. The skin was nice and crispy and the fillet was cooked perfectly. Finally, there was some kind of all white dessert, which included lavender ice cream, white chocolate and white foam made out of something (coconut maybe?). Again, the owner told as that he picked the lavender from a church garden down the street (with the priest’s permission of course). He was really enthusiastic about his food and passionate about quality ingredients.
Overall, my 4 country trip proved to be a success. Although, I ate very well, the next time I go to Europe I will research various restaurants and chefs that I want to seek out.

After I went to Europe, I traveled cross country for about 2 weeks on a hitch hiker’s budget, eating canned food and rice daily. It wasn’t good eats but I hiked some beautiful places in Yellowstone and the Gran Tetons. I also beat the house in Vegas! As for me now, I have moved out of Binghamton and I am living the American dream! I’m sleeping on the couch at my parents house! Okay, well it kind of sucks but I got a job at this cool restaurant in Soho called Kittichai and I plan on moving out once I build up some capital. I also plan on making a few more updates to this blog and then start a new one. I have some idea’s for other blogs and projects but I’m not sure which one I will decide to tackle. I’ll be sure to keep you posted!