Elite Traveler September-October 2015

103 elite traveler SEPT/OCT 2015 ISSUE 5

Sign up for a class at San Sebastián Food's Cooking School

WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK Restaurante Arzak The uncontested ruler of San Sebastián restaurants has moved into the interstellar league after Elena Arzak, daughter of legendary patriach of Basque cuisine Juan Mari Arzak (pictured), was voted the world’s greatest female chef in 2012. Known for its exceptional, creative cooking based on Basque ingredients and techniques. The congenial atmosphere belies the This is the classiest of pintxo bars and maintains its premier position thanks to its soulful, unpretentious cooking and its careful choice of first-class raw materials. The spider crab tartlet and the seasonal wild mushrooms a la plancha are highly recommended. c/San Jerónimo, 21, +34 943 422575 Prime Basque cooking and one of the world’s greatest wine lists come together in a much-loved restaurant that, in culinary terms, is both classic and has managed to move with the times. This former farmhouse boasts a delightful terrace with tables under ganbarajatetxea.com Restaurante Rekondo highly-geared perfection of its three-star Michelin cuisine. Avenida Alcalde Elósegui, 273, +34 943 278465 arzak.es Ganbara

Reserve a table at threeMichelin-star restaurant Arzak

an overarching tree. Paseso de Igeldo, 57, +34 943 212907 rekondo.com La Cuchara de San Telmo

Of all the hundreds of pintxo bars in this city La Cuchara, (which translates as "the spoon") is among the best. You won’t find any of the usual bar-top pintxos here: everything is cooked to order. Specialities include the tender slow-cooked beef cheeks, salt cod tempura and scallops with ibérico bacon.

a Russian guest has just spotted Crusoe Treasure, a Spanish wine that is aged in cages at the bottom of the sea; he wants several bottles packed up to take home. Warren’s unbeatable food-world connections can fix almost anything, from the chef’s table at Arzak for a Hollywood star over for the Film Festival in September, to a trip up the coast to the farm of Jaime Burgaña, supplier of “I’m going to eat my way around this city” vegetables to the (Michelin) stars, whose Guisantes de Lágrima (”tear peas“) currently retail at $275 a pound. Warren also remembers a London-based client with a budget of $230,000 for his new wine cellar who wanted San Sebastián Food to do the buying for him. Then there was the party of English tourists in vintage sports cars who wanted a pintxo tour followed by a special dinner at one of the city’s three triple-starred Michelin restaurants. The lesson of San Sebastián Food is that even in a gastronomic hub as vibrant as this, you can still put a creative spin on an old recipe. What Warren and his team have brought to the city’s culinary scene is twofold: for the locals, he represents a new class of foreign customer with a passion for good food and money to spend. For the traveler, meanwhile, he offers access to a food culture that, though rich and complex, never fails to leave a great taste in the mouth. sansebastianfood.com

c/31 Agosto, 28, +34 943 354446 lacucharadesantelmo.com Petritegi Sagardotegia For an experience of homely

Basque hospitality, try Petritegi. Food at this rural sagardotegia a few miles outside San Sebastián follows the set-in-stone menu of the Basque cider house: juicy salt-cod omelette is followed by a giant chargrilled T-bone steak and finished off with local cheese and quince chutney – all washed down with homemade cider straight from the barrel. Petritegi Bidea, 20115, Astigarraga, +34 943 457188 petritegi.com

Photos 4 Corners