Eat Your Vegetables

I think the majority of my favorite adventures start on the days when I have to drag myself out of my apartment.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I got home from work, had a snack, and glued myself to my couch.  It was mind v. inertia, and inertia was winning.  But then the tide began to turn.  I'll just do one new thing.  And that was enough to get me out the door, and get the wheels turning.  I didn't come back for four or five hours.  So what did I do?
Well, the thing that got me out the door was seeing Casa Ramon Casas, a Moderniste building on Passeig de Gracia currently owned by the interior design and house furnishing store Vincon.

 I had previously grumbled that this house is under renovation, so the outside is covered.  However, the second floor is supposed to be beautiful, so I thought I'd check it out.  While the first floor bears no signs of having ever been beautiful or Moderniste-influenced, the second floor is full of the rich detailing I've grown accustomed to.  Ornate woodworking in expected and unexpected places, little sparks of light on the gilding, tile mosaics of bursting greenery underfoot, and stained glass in choice corners.

 Casa Ramon Casas is not nearly as striking as other gems in the vicinity, but it's pretty and - hey - it's air conditioned.  A nice rest stop on a walk.  The contrast with the complete and utterly useless (and often ugly) decorations sold downstairs is also pretty humorous.
Next came that inspiration I mentioned.  I wanted to walk somewhere, so I decided that today was the day to explore El Raval.  I've been there before, such as when I went to Forn Mistral (of the omnomlicious mini croissants), but there are so many things to see in El Raval that I hadn't done it justice.
The name "El Raval" is derived from the Arabic word Rabad, which means "neighborhood" or "district".  It used to be incredibly dangerous (going to certain parts at night, especially late at night, is still not advised), but has been somewhat gentrified (several museums, such as the MACBA, have been opened here).  Some people refer to it as "the real Barcelona", but most of its inhabitants are immigrants.  I've met quite a few Expats from England, Germany, and the like that live there, but most of the immigrants are from Pakistan.  In fact, Rambla de Raval, a street in the middle of El Raval, has been nicknamed Rambla de Pakistan.
At the same time, though, the melting pot nature of port cities often produces wonderful results.  According to one of Barcelona's newspapers, El Raval is the world's most ethnically and culturally diverse urban space. It's home to tiny shops, tiny restaurants, open plazas, and hidden gems.  It's also been the inspiration for a TON of books and other artistic works.
Here's a bit of what I found: the first stop was Teatre Goya.

 Founded in 1914, the theater has hosted many prominent professionals.  However, it closed in 2004 and seemed shuttered forever.  But a group of strong-willed citizens formed The Focus Group and fought to reopen this symbolic center of city (and El Raval) culture.  The Teatro Goya was reopened in 2008 and now has a focus on 20th century and contemporary works, though tourists should be warned that most of its performances are in Catalan.  Click to see pictures of Teatre Goya then and now.
The next stop was Els Tres Tombs, a tapas bar with mediocre food but "great atmosphere".

It's a hangout for lovers of the Sunday morning book market, as well as those out late at night (it's hours are 6 AM to 3 AM).  Note: the Sunday morning book market runs from 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM and sells books and coins, as well as magazines, comics, postcards, records, stamps, an textiles.  But mostly books and coins.

 As for the name, it refers to the "three turns" of the area performed by a procession of men on horseback during the Festa dels Tres Tombs in January.
Across the street from Els Tres Tombs is the Mercat de San Antoni.

It's currently closed for renovations, but is slated to reopen later this year (2012).  The steel-skeleton building was built in the late 19th century (1872-1882) by Antoni Rovira i Trias. The market is described as "Like the Boqueria market but larger and without tourists" by several travel websites.
Plunging further into El Raval, I came upon a giant cat statue. 

 It was made by the Fernando Botero, a Columbian painter and sculptor whose work is caracterized by its "voluptuous figurative style."  The cat came to Barcelona in 1987 and has been moved about a few times, but currently resides on Rambla del Raval.  One of my favorite descriptions of the Raval cat comes from this site:

It is climbed upon, hidden under and circled by children. It is asked to pose for incessant photos, it’s whiskers never out-of-place. I admire this cat.

It’s body looks like that of a bears. It has a tree trunk of a neck. A tail like an elongated party balloon. And a face… I can never quite work out the face. It’s serene I think. Quizzical. Maybe just a little pissed off.

Nearby the cat is Cafe de les Delicies,

 a cafe known for its rows of books on the shelves lining the walls.  It also has a jukebox from the 1970s to add a bit of character.

 It's supposed to be quite good, and I considered stopping there but for another surprised discovery, which comes later in this post.
My final planned stop was at The Quiet Man, 

 a pub that boasts a quiet, relaxed air but has some characteristic activities that draw livelier crowds.  The Quiet Man hosts frequent poetry readings, as well as live music on weekends.

 As I was making my way back through El Raval, I came upon a glorious sight.  The wooden giants! I had found them at last!

 And I got to mingle with them and their mini-giant papier maiche-headed children!

 There weren't enough monster heads to go around, so people were sharing...

 And I even got to wear one! (Looks good, right?) 

For reference, I'm staring at y'all through the nostils.

This whole show was part of Festa Major del Raval (see the link for the "invitation video" they made this year, which features the Giant Cat from before "talking") and was helping them to whip up attention about the events this weekend.  It worked.  I'm psyched.  Anyone in the area, definitely come check it out.

And now comes the surprise... I had stumbled upon a restaurant that I had wanted to try, Sesamo.

 Some background on how I found this restaurant: I was trying to convince my vegan-no-oil-diet mother to come visit me in Barcelona and was looking for vegan dining options.  Sesamo came up as a restaurant with vegetarian and vegan options (all vegan options are marked with a large V on the menu, and there are quite a few of them) and some gourmet kick.  Sadly, my plot did not work, but my mother made me promise to take myself out to dinner there.  So I did.

 The menu was far more gourmet than anything that I'd been eating recently, and reading the menu alone was enough to get me drooling.  I got a salad of grilled peaches, lentils, buffalo mozzarella, and white truffle oil to start.

 I always forget that I hate truffle oil (I was focusing more on the grilled peaches and buffalo mozzarella and sort of forgot about the truffle part, actually), but the rest of teh salad was great.
My next course was gnocchi filled with gorgonzola, covered in a mash of beetroot and caramelized onions, topped with a dusting of Parmesan.

These were far more delicate than I had anticipated.  The beetroot made for a beautiful color, but didn't overwhelm in terms of flavor.  The gorgonzola was very mild and had an almost smooth when paired with the gnocchi.  I would have loved a little more Parmesan, but I usually dump cheese on everything.  These were great.  And so pretty!  I got a media racion (half portion) so that I could try more things.  It wasn't a huge portion, but it was just right for me (get a full racion if you want to share, unless you're ordering a whole lot of tapas for dinner).
And then, God help me, they brought over the dessert board.  I wanted everything on the menu.

 They had seated me right by the open kitchen, where I could watch the chefs work and the really nice waiter whisk to and fro relaying orders.  Due to proximity and the fact that I was alone, the kitchen staff had befriended me by this point in my meal, so I asked the head chef for his suggestions.  His comment?  "It's all delicious, but don't get the fondue.  It's the only thing that I didn't really have a chance to make.  It's just... you get can it anywhere."  Touche, chef man.  I pressed him for an actual suggestion, and he narrowed it down to the Summer Tirimasu (he uses chocolate and brandy and something I can't remember in his own twist on the timeless classic) and the home-made caramel and sea salt ice cream.  Now, I'm gunshy when it comes to caramel and sea salt (I had a very bad experience in a restaurant in Seattle where their caramel and sea salt dessert was salty to the point of being utterly inedible... and then the waiter told me I just had no taste), but this chef and I understood each other and I decided to take a chance.  Caramel and sea salt, please!

 This stuff was awesome.  The caramel in the ice cream made it thick and so rich.  The salt was mostly sprinkled on the top, so the first few bites had most of the contrast, then the middle part was just smooth caramel, and then a few sneaky salty bits worked back into the flavor in the last few bites.  This taste combination will never be my comfort food, but it keeps me on my toes, and I like that.
After dinner, the head chef snuck out of the kitchen for a moment and sat down with me.  His name was Alfredo and he was from Argentina, but he'd moved to Barcelona 10 years ago.  He'd been an English teacher in Argentina, so his English was perfect.  He'd wanted to move to Barcelona or London, but was encouraged to try Barcelona.  He's never looked back.  He took an 8-month cooking class here 9 years ago, worked in several restaurants to get his feet wet, and now he has Sesamo.  We talked about discovering hidden gems in the city and our love of live music.  He clued me in to a live music festival this weekend on top of Montjuic called Noche Blanca (White Night).  I hope that I have time to go!
The walk home from such an incredible evening was warm and I couldn't stop smiling.  On my walk to the Metro, I passed by the MACBA, which was having a FADFEST (that modern design award thing I went to with Evin this past weekend) party of some sort.  A symphony was echoing through the streets and the sky was full of balloons.

A perfect end to a perfect evening.

Spotted: The Brandery fashion show.

The Brandery and Marie Claire have been advertising their fashion weekend all over the city.  there are also concerts and all sorts of other things, too.  I swear, there is never enough time to see everything in this city!  That's THREE FESTIVALS this weekend alone that I discovered in a single day.