You're listening to Heritage Radio Network. Hi,
everyone. Welcome to Potluck Food Talks, the
unusual food show where with this, our most loyal
listeners on social media, sort of. No, we don't
do that, don't we? My name is Eric. I'm with
Louis Brie Cheese in the house. And yeah, today
I wanted to talk about, dude, about places I
wish I opened, but I didn't, for whatever reason.
But yeah, you know, like... Do you remember,
like, a few episodes ago, we started this in
the Barcelona food scene, and a lot of people
got angry about that. Like, all these hipster
cafes and everything, you know? But I have to
give some to the hipster cafes that, first of
all, the coffee is amazing. That's a fact. That's
why they exist, these specialty cafe places.
But secondly, there are some that are pretty
good ones. You know, like I really went deep
into it. I got as hipster as I could, you know,
mullet haircut, mustache, Joy Division t -shirt.
Typical Friday for you. Exactly. And I found
some really good ones, man. Like, one of them
is Cafe Botanic. This place, I walked in, and
I first had this impression of, this is nice,
you know? Like, somebody got, like, a really
small venue. Everything was really well cared.
The whole, you know, corporate image was well
thought with this botanic leaves, botanic illustrations,
you know, a place where you can get a good coffee,
but also the sandwiches were really good. And
something I like about this place is that in
the backyard, it has like a garden, just a garden,
you know, no tables. It's just a garden for you
to walk side and have a look at the plants. Oh,
nice. Yeah, not this. Extra tables, more functionality,
make as much money as you can. No, it was just
like, let's make a nice space just to relax so
you can walk outside with your coffee and just
get away from whatever you need to get away of.
And there I had also something that surprised
me was a sandwich. I had this. cheese sandwich
with mushroom and truffles and it was really
nice you know like also i went as hipster as
i could so i got a dirty chai latte which i never
had a dirty chai you know what it is yeah yeah
it's it's really good yeah chai with with coffee
basically you know like it's it's super nice
like it's it's really tasty if you want something
that's like a little bit sweeter a little bit
more spicy a little bit more autumny like it's
very nice Super, super, super nice. And then
when I finished, they told me, ah, by the way,
the cheese is plant -based. And I was like, oh,
nice. It's nice when you have a plant -based
cheese. You wouldn't know it was. And yeah, I
really like that one. There were many places
that I went. I also went to a place called La
Brillantina, and also in Barcelona. It's like
all over the place, Latin American. So they don't
specialize in Mexican or Argentinian. They just
make, I will call it, Latin American fusion.
And I had the idea of doing something exactly
like that in my time in Berlin. And I was kind
of envious, you know, because they did it really
nice. You know, they would do, you know, like,
for example, patacones, these fried plantains.
Yeah. But just with creative stuff on top, you
know, like just let's say like some fresh cheese,
but with some guava marmalade or stuff like that,
you know, that you had like this mixture of notes.
Also the cocktails, really nice. And I went to
Ultramarinas Marina as well then. That was super,
super cool. It was good, yeah. Yeah, again, again,
something like that. I wish I opened a place
like that. It was not as expensive as I was expecting
it to be, maybe, because we didn't have wine.
I think that if you go for the wines, the bill
is going to pump up. The place... really gives
you the vibe of being in a normal Spanish lunch
bar, you know, like metal counter, old wooden
tablets. It really feels like that, where you
would have like, you know, like a normal sandwich
in any bar in Spain, but then you have like this.
Chefs, so they basically have like three main
cooking methods. One is charcuterie, so the other
one is charcoal grilled, and the other one is
plancha. So you have like, you choose some cold
cuts, then you can choose also like the plancha
dishes or the charcoal dishes. And everything
was really, really nice. You know, like also
normal, not pretentious food, like the chicken.
Did you tell me to have the chicken? No. Somebody
told me to have the chicken there. So the chicken
was really, I mean, like the potato course was
amazing. You know, it was like just like a baked
potato, the whole thing. And then it was smashed.
And I think it was probably gratinated maybe
with butter, but I'm not sure because it was
really nice and brown and golden. Crispy on the
outside, creamy on the inside, really nice. But
for me, the highlight was the sepionette, which
are like these baby squids. Dude, they have like
this standard. Next to the plancha, they have
like a big bottle with garum. So whatever they
do, plancha, plancha, and then some garum on
top that is homemade, and that's what you get.
Also the bread. Homemade, super nice. They open
a place just next to Ultramarino's Marin, which
is called Ultrapanino's Marin. And they do paninis,
as you can guess. They bake their own bread.
They do their own charcuterie, also their own
pickles, their own everything. Super, super,
super nice. I heard so many good things about
this place. I know that, for example, Kevin,
a good friend of the show, Kevin, always goes
there when he's in Barcelona. He's a big fan.
Whatever I see from them, it's such a unique
concept also. It's so unique. They just kind
of seem like they're doing their thing. It looks
amazing. When possible, I love eating at a bar.
I love because I like the interaction of being
just in front of someone for the service. But
in this case, you have the chefs in front of
you with the plancha in front of you. So that's
pretty cool. Yeah. But there's also like a dining
room in the back where the charcoal grills are,
and then there are like big tables. Nice. For
me, honestly, the one in the front is interesting.
They also do their own piparras, their own pickles,
like super, super cool. And I also went to a
place called Rooftop Smokehouse, also in Barcelona.
I heard about them, yeah. Dude, I think I had
the best anchovies I had in my life, and me saying
that. Those are big words because I have anchovies
all the time. Oh, wow. So I got these cans of
smoked butter anchovies. It was like 15 bucks
for five anchovies. And I did a sandwich with
that. I got a bread and also a bakery, maybe
one of the best bakeries in Barcelona right now.
It's a place called Origo. They do puff pastries,
bread, and focaccias. We got bread from there,
these anchovies, two or three things on top of
that. Super, super, super nice. I also got kimchi
and pastrami from that place. Everything was
over the top. All of these concepts I'm talking
about, you know, like they're like really small
places. Maybe Ultramarino is marine. They have
like a bigger venue, but like the original idea
was like, you know, taking like a normal bar
and turning it into something super nice. You
know, for example, this place, the Latin American
one, La Brillantina. I wouldn't surprise if somebody
told me, ah, this used to be a doner, a kebab,
you know? Like, because that idea of taking,
like, a place that used to be a kebab and turning
it into, like, a super nice restaurant with nice
food, open kitchen, well -thought design, super
tasty flavors, also a cohesive concept, just
made me a little bit jealous, you know? Like,
I'm not working in a restaurant anymore, and
I don't think if I would work in a kitchen anymore.
But I would definitely work in the management
of a restaurant because it's a business I love
so much. And that's something that I think would
work for me at this time of my life. Do you have
any places that you feel you would like, you
wish you opened? Oh, there's so many, man. Like,
I totally get it. From different styles also,
you know, like what I'm kind of like currently
obsessed with, you know, and I'll see a place
that does very like uncompromisingly what they
want to do. And they have a very specific style,
you know, and I'm sort of like, man, that's so
cool. Like, I wish I opened that, you know. For
example, there's a bakery in Copenhagen. There's
many, many really good bakeries in Copenhagen.
But there's one called Lille Bakery, started
by three friends. I think one of them left, was
run by these two women. And one of them, she
used to work at Favikin and stuff like that.
She used to like work in like really high end
restaurants. And they opened this like small
bakery. First of all, the space is super cool.
It's almost like a little bit like a, like a
very small warehouse, like hotel ceilings. And
they bake their own bread, like tartine style
sourdough bread. But they also like do like baked
goods and daily changing dishes. It's rustic
food, but it's done in such a beautiful, like
sensible way. For example, they have these like,
these like little fried donuts that are coated
in raspberry sugar. So it is like. pink sugar
donuts really kind of like almost mediterranean
style salads like otolenghi -esque and it's such
a beautiful like community place you know you
go there you meet there you have a coffee there
they have these like beautiful like big wooden
tables and everything is like really unpretentious
there's like stacks of flour in the corner but
it's like it's not messy it's like really clean
and nice you have the oven in the back everything's
open you know you can see everything and like
i love those sorts of places that that are like
not afraid to just they're sort of like we do
something Because we believe in it. It's good.
You know, we don't have to make it super expensive.
We don't have to follow some weird trend. We
don't have to make it like TikTok, postable.
We just make something that's good. Like the
other day I saw this video of a guy saying stuff
like, hey, food shouldn't be cool. And I was
kind of like, I was watching that. And I was
sort of like, man, like I get what you're saying.
At the same time, I'm kind of like, well, food
is pretty cool. And it is pretty cool to innovate,
you know? Like there's things that you see and
you're sort of like, man, that's really cool.
I've never seen that before. But I get where
he's coming from. Because at the end of the day,
you need these places that are like, you go and
you can go all the time. You don't have to like
save up to go once a month. If you want to go,
you can. And you know that when you go, you sit
down, you get something that's really soul nourishing.
I love that. And sometimes I get caught up as
a chef thinking, wow, like I want to do this.
I want to do that. And sometimes you lose track
a little bit of like this idea of feeding people
and nourishing them and like pulling down your
own ego a little bit. Right. And just doing something,
you know, fulfilling your role as a chef, which
is I'm going to feed you. You're going to leave
feeling better than what you did when you came
in before. Dude, you mentioned donuts and pastries
and all of these things. I also went to a place.
I've been following this place for a while, but
I went for the first time personally. It's like
a chocolate shop called Lot. Like a lot. I think
their slogan is drink a lot in Barcelona. And
it's, dude, it's so cool. Like, really, really
so cool. You know, like, you have this super
minimalistic place that you have, like, metallic
tables, and they do pastries. I had a pecan nut
financier with a pecan praline in the center.
Like, the donut was filled with this. Just, like,
you know, just nice pastry, good product, where
you just, you have, like, a well -executed financier
with a nice, you don't want anything else in
life, you know? So, and they have, like, this
long menu of cocoa -based drinks. I had like
a cold brew cocoa, and it was really like a soft
drink, but like an organic, delicious kind of
thing, you know, and refreshing. And, of course,
the hot chocolates are over the top. They're
bean to bar chocolates, and they have like this
kind of exhibition with cocoa beans and different
kinds of things. And, as you say, like there
is a glass to the pastry lab, to the Obrador,
where they're doing everything. And, you know,
a place is good. you know he's he's one of us
he's a good fella if they're showing off their
books you know like and there was a nice collection
of books and i was like i know you know you know
like that you know like there was uh books of
relay The dessert book of Albert Andrea, the
original black books from El Bulli, you know,
everything there. And I was like, okay, okay,
now I get it. And I found out that the guy, his
background, he's not actually not a pastry or
a chocolatier. He's a chef that opened a chocolate
shop, you know, and I thought that was pretty
cool as well. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it's
like these sorts of places that you can always,
there's a certain like feel to a place that's
like authentic by somebody who like knows what
they're doing. I feel like often you can tell
when you walk into a place if it's artificially
created, you know? Like sometimes you walk in,
you have this in Dubai a lot, right? So I don't
think there's any place here that's not like
artificially creating an atmosphere. Some do
it well, right? And some do it like it feels
very fake. It feels very Disneyland. But you
know, that is a separate vibe, I suppose. But
like if you walk into a space and it's just authentically
like an expression of the people that run it.
You can really tell, I think. Immediately you
step in and you're kind of like, I'm in somebody's
workshop right now. They didn't necessarily design
the shelves for me to be like, oh, look at these
shelves, you know? But they designed it just
because they like it, you know? There's a big
difference. Also, you know, this was like this
fancy chocolate shop. And you know what they
were playing? Mobb Deep. Yeah, nice. I love that.
So you would see this posh. Catalan ladies buying
their pastries and listening to Mobb Deep, you
know? And I think that's beautiful. That's amazing.
I love that. Another place that I wish that I
had opened, but that I definitely didn't, is
Saison in San Francisco. You know Saison? The
three Michelin star place. Which one? No, man.
They basically revolutionized open fire cooking
in the modern world. Yeah, so they... They have
this approach of like local ingredients, like
very Japanese, like not like traditional Japanese,
but like very luxury Japanese approach. A lot
of Asian influences and they built this big hearth.
And so they were cooking only over wood fire
and not really over wood fire, but over wood
embers. So they would build a big fire. They
would shovel the coals out, the embers out from
under the fire and use that for cooking on. And
their whole approach is so like, precise but
like this like mixture of like rustic primal
cooking but in a super high -end refined way
the whole kitchen design all of the like the
tableware they started a like a new movement
basically of like fine dining cooking in my opinion
and it's an approach that always spoke to me
a lot i mean like i've been a fan of them since
i was You know, just starting out cooking. I
think I heard of them the first time when I was
in Mugaritz or in Tokyo. So I was like 20. And
they've been for me like one of the most interesting
kitchens ever since. What's the name of the chef
you said? The original chef was called Joshua
Skeets. Yeah, exactly. I was just checking and
now it's a guy called Richard Lee that took over.
Yeah, he took over a few years ago. And Joshua
Skeens, he made the whole concept like he was
owner of it and stuff like that and opened like
several restaurants. He stepped back. Dude, the
kitchen is fucking beautiful. You know, it has
this vibe half home kitchen, half professional
restaurant kitchen. Exactly. It looks like you're
in... like a friend's place who's invited like
a billionaire who's got like a very elaborate
hunting lodge somewhere in the mountains and
he's cooking for you serving you caviar grilled
and kelp leaves and they have this like very
mythical feel to them you know that they're like
this whole like fire cooking it speaks to it
speaks to us in a way and a lot of times it's
done very very roughly i remember the first time
i went to eat at echibari You know, that was
back in 2013. So it's quite a, it's almost 10
years ago now. And, you know, back then it wasn't
as famous as it is now, but it was still very
famous. And I knew that I was going to go to
a grill restaurant. And what was really surprising
to me when I went and I aged the stuff was the
subtleness of the charcoal and the smoke. I thought
it was going to be like grilled, smoky, blah,
blah, blah. Not at all. It's so, so subtle. And
the cooking is so precise and so elegant, but
like deep and primal at the same time, because
the ingredients are kind of left to themselves
in a way. The combinations, they're so minimal,
you know, it's not like overloaded. That really
blew my mind. And I feel like Cezanne orders
something similar, you know, where they're kind
of like, well, we take this like very rustic
primal approach, but we use the highest ingredients
and we let the... ingredients speak for themselves
and everything that we do is just there to kind
of like push it up and up and up yeah they do
really interesting things you know they're like
they make their own like their own sea salt they
um you know they age you know they were one of
the first people who like really like dry aged
fish and stuff like that they make their own
sort of like like soy sauce but it's not really
soy sauce it's like a mixture of different things
and like a stock of roasted grains and seaweeds
and stuff like that they use that for seasoning
it's a very interesting approach well definitely
a place like noma projects is definitely a place
i would love to run you know like it's not a
restaurant But you're creating these condiments
and you're playing around with creating, yeah,
creative soy sauces with different stuff or creative
vinegars or miso paste or all these kind of things.
I think that's also super rewarding, you know,
like definitely. A hundred percent. Talking about
soy sauce, I recently went to another branch
place, this one here in San Sebastian called
Rompe Huevos, which means egg breaker. And it
has like this double meaning, you know, like.
And the owner and head chef is Flavia. She used
to cook for a while in Bordaberri. It's funny
because she came from Peru and all of her friends
that were doing statues and this Michelin star
places, she was like, no, I want to do it in
Bordaberri. That's the kind of stuff I liked.
Amazing. She ended up opening a brunch cafe here
called Simona. She was a business partner there
and then she split away. and open her own place,
which is now Rompehuegos. And I was there yesterday
or the day before for the first time. So nice,
man, like so cool. I had a brioche with smoked
trout, scrambled eggs, and salsa cevichada. You
know salsa cevichada? Yeah, yeah, very nice.
For me, that's one of the best. kept secrets
in Peruvian cuisine. You know, everybody knows
ceviche, but this is like a ceviche mayo, and
it's really versatile. You know, like one of
the most simplest version, you just, you have
your blender, you throw cilantro stems, ginger,
some chili, salt, pepper, some soy sauce, important,
an egg, and then you treat it like a mayonnaise,
basically. You let oil... go through. I think
I like it when I do it with like a very mild
olive oil, an olive oil that is not invasive,
you know, like works pretty well, but the traditional
way is probably with a normal neutral oil. And
also you can play around that, you know, like
this would be like a very basic one, but I've
seen versions with dashi, you know, versions.
I love combining, you know, like ají dulce, like
sweet chili with habanero. Just a little bit
of habanero to keep the spiciness, but not too
much. And the aroma, of course, and a lot of
ají dulce. Some onion also. And that's it, man.
Like, it's like an incredible... You know what
is amazing in using, because most people think
about... You know, at Tiradito, the first time
I had that was on top of some makis in maybe
my favorite restaurant in La Paz, Bolivia, that
is called New Tokyo. But, dude, on top of fried
chicken. Fried chicken with ceviche mayo is,
I think, the best thing you can do to a fried
chicken. Yeah, that sounds really good, actually.
Ceviche mayo on top of fried chicken is a really,
really good idea. Peruvian, like, and Nikkei
cuisine, they have some shit, you know, like,
and it's like, I think it's because it's so free
and, like, it's always evolving. Some really
cool shit comes out. Like, yesterday we did a
new recipe. One of our sous chefs, who's Peruvian,
he made this sauce for a tiradito, a hamachi
tiradito. Super simple, actually. But he made,
he took leche de tigre and he mixed it with aji
amarillo, aji amarillo puree that we make ourselves,
right? And then he made a binchotan oil. So he
took some hot binchotan, put it in olive oil.
A what, sorry? Binchotan. I don't know what it
is. Binchotan is the Japanese type of charcoal.
So the, you know, the natural Japanese charcoal
that they use for like yakitori. The one that
you use to sometimes to burn the fish on top
or... Okay, yeah. Binchotan basically is cool
because, I mean, for cooking it burns, like it
takes a while to burn. because it's very compact,
but it burns for a really long time and it burns
really hot and really even, right? It's not like
hot and then it goes down. It's like once it
gets going, it's like bam, and then it slowly
goes down. And also it has a very clean, like
smoky flavor. It's very nice. He made a binchotan
oil. So basically he dropped a piece of charcoal
into oil. It starts smoking a lot and the oil
absorbs this like charcoal smoky flavor. And
so Leche de Tigre, Aji Amarillo, lime juice,
and then he emulsified a little bit of binchotan
oil into it. And so you had this like smoky,
sour, spicy, bright yellow sauce. And I ate it
and I was like, fucking hell, that's so tasty.
Like it was so good, you know. You know, a few
episodes back, we talked about this like sensation
of, you know, you eat something and you're like,
oh my God, so tasty, right? It's like the idea
can be cool and stuff like that. But how many
times do you eat something and you're like, fuck.
That's so good. And it was that, you know, and
I was like, man, that's so nice. I love that.
I love having these moments where food is just
like bang on delicious. You know, another place
that I went in my super ultra hipster expedition
in Barcelona. Dude, so nice. A place called Sandwich
Club. You know, I really like the design because
it really feels like they went. You know, like
they took just a space, super minimalistic, just
the most functional kind of setting and decoration
and tables and everything. And they have a menu
where they offer just like, you know, maybe 12
sandwiches or brunch pieces, you know. And I
had a pastrami sandwich that was made with the
pastrami of the guys from Rooftop Smokehouse.
Grilled cheese, super, super nice. But for me,
the highlight and maybe the best thing they do.
are the Turkish eggs. Have you had Turkish eggs
before? I know, with yogurt and like a sort of
like oil, right? Garlicky yogurt and then, yeah,
melted butter with paprika or chili. Amazing.
And the oil is mixed with dill and sometimes
mint. I think this didn't have mint, but dill
for sure. Poached eggs and a super nice piece
of bread. Dude, this was so, so, so fucking good,
you know? Nice. That sounds so tasty. That sounds
like the sort of shit you want to eat every day.
I think that's my favorite brunch right now.
Man, I honestly, brunch places are really like
underrated. You know, people love to hate on
it and be sort of like, oh, hipster this, hipster
that. But like, I had some really amazing meals
over the last couple of years in brunch places.
And like in Berlin, for example, there used to
be this place, it's closed down now, unfortunately,
but there used to be this place called Love Deluxe,
which was like, yeah, it was a brunch place.
basically um but with jamaican influence and
like the first time i went there they like i
i really had a couple of moments where i was
like this is really fucking good you know like
they had sort of like these like homemade pickles
on the side of like braised beef and like a sort
of chili tomato sauce and the pickles were sort
of like um radish carrot and like green serrano
chili they're sort of like spicy sour and like
everything was just like it was good you know
really kind of comforting There's another place
that I also really like. It's super, it's very
trendy. It's very popular in Berlin, but it is
good. It's called Annelies. And they, for example,
you know, like they have good pancakes. They
have a very good breakfast sandwich, which is
kind of like a breakfast burger, you know, like
a smashed sausage patty, nice sort of like squishy
roll, cheese, blah, blah, blah. It's very tasty
and satisfying to eat. But like the best thing
that they had there was a salad. And it was a
salad made from shredded kohlrabi. You know,
there's this like spiralizer that you make like
vegetable noodles with. So like spiralized kohlrabi.
A dressing made with like Dijon mustard. So like
a quite mustardy dressing. Roasted hazelnuts.
Thai basil. This almost like parmesan -y soft
cheese for like a slocco. And I remember like
the first time I went, people were sort of like
a friend of mine. He was like, hey, make sure
you get the salad. And I'm like, salad? Really?
And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, get the salad.
And I ate the salad and I was like, man, this
is so good. It's just like everything works together
perfectly. I feel like it's because like brunch
places, they don't really give a shit. Like they're
just like, they're like, man, we're a brunch
place. We can do whatever the fuck we want, you
know? Like we can make pancakes, we make sandwiches,
we make this, we make that. And maybe because
of that, like they just fucking do something
and it's free. That's what made me jealous about
it. You know, you say I'm a brunch place. Yeah,
I'm going to do like a fucking suckling pig grilled.
And that's why I offer it. You know, like you
take it or leave it. You know what? A guilty
pleasure for me that I've developed. I discovered
this not so long ago, maybe max five years or
so ago, having booze for brunch. Dude, you know?
Or like a little glass of champagne. Yeah, or
a beer or even a mojito. You know, fuck it. Just
shots. Just a fucking mojito with your trout
brioche. A breakfast beer is underrated, man.
A breakfast beer is underrated. It's the future,
man. So, kids, now you know. Now you know. Drink
before noon and stay in school. That's it for
this week's episode of Potluck Food Talks. If
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