I have lots and lots of bars here in Valencia but “Mi Bar” is a very little place called Bar Casa Morrut. It’s the perfect sort
of small, local place you would wish for yourself in a perfect world with a
convivial host, great food, and friendly customers who treat you like a member
of a club. It’s a spot you will want to
stop by every night for a quick bite to eat before you cook dinner or perhaps
you can forget about your own kitchen altogether. It’s only a little out of the
way when you are returning from the supermarket and well worth the detour. I never
run out of excuses for going to Bar Casa
Morrut.
I met the guys who have the bar next door. Great people and I just had to go inside and have a drink at their place on the way home. We talked a lot about food, especially paella and tortilla de patatas. I will write more about this place soon. I can't remember his name, but one of them took the trouble to write down the name of a bar in Valencia that he says has the best tortilla de patatas in town and then he looked up the address on the internet. I will be going to La Cevercería Alhambra on Calle Calixto llI on Monday to verify this.
The truth is you need more than 1 bar, though having a faithful local where you can leave the keys or drop off a book for a friend to pick up is crucial.* As the years pass here and I get a bit pickier about the food, I find that I stray from my faithfuls. The tortilla de patatas is ok here, and the bocata de lomo across the street, and the pincho moruno over there (but only on Thursdays, when they do the bulk of the weekend shopping..)etc. Then there are the places a bit afar (like, a whole 10 minute walk away) where you indulge in a bit of dirty weekend and have some empanada de bacalao, only on Sundays, or the place you used to go a few years ago but now only pop in once in a while, but they still smile and throw down a nice aperitivo of jamon (the tapa version of booty call). Long term relationships with the bars of your beloved country. It's complicated.
ReplyDelete*Me, I had an alternative relationship with a papeleria down the street. They gave monthly credit accounts (crucial for the self-employed teacher)so I could waltz in and pick up highlighters and purple pencils and acid-color Postitsº. They'd take package deliveries or hold onto them for the messengers to pick up, send and recieve faxes, resell my old books...alas, kicked out by a greedy landlord (who hasn't managed to rent the place again in 4 years.)
I grew up in Manhattan when it still thrived on local small business (and believe it or not, it still does.) Too bad Madrid is losing its edge.
I'd have to think really hard to count all of the bars that I go to on a regular basis. I have a simple rule: If I go to a place and they are nice to me I go back. I go back to places that treat me like shit if it suits me. I should amend my simple rule to say that I like going to bars and cafés and leave it at that.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. While food and cleanliness is the most important, I won't go back to any place with attitude, no matter how good the food might be (which eliminates most of the places near where I live, in Huertas/Santa Ana/Lavapies Madrid. They're either jaded by serving tourists or are too tragically hip to smile.
ReplyDelete