off to madrid 11/8

[michael scarfi]

off to madrid tomorrow and looking for recs. nothing can be to cheap or to expensive. im not traveling 4000 miles to save a dollar. staying at the westin palace so closer is better but not the only criteria.will be there a week so ill need quite a few recs.got a rec for cornicopia but nothing else.Heeeeeeeeeeeeeelp.

[MOREKASHA]

Get to your hotel, check in and then walk to the nearest branch of the worlds greatest museum, El Museo del Jamon. Order a racion of bellota (aka iberico, Jabuego) ham, it's probably about $20.00 U.S. now. Later find a good gallego bar, enjoy some pulpo a la galega, have a glass of Albarino w/it, my fave is Valdemor, which I've only seen @ Combarro in barrio Salamanca. Try to get to a good Asturiano place and enjoy some cabrales, cabrales w/fries,and more cabrales.Have some cidra to wash it down and then a big steaming bowl of fabada.

[jcmods]

Our rule of thumb in Spain is: If you see a place packed with really old Spanish guys, it will be good and cheap, so enter immediately. Of course, this is bad if you cannot handle a lot of smoke.

Try and do lunch around 2:00-3:00 or you will be the only one in the restaurant.

One place I passed by where the food looked good (but had obviously gotten on the tourist radar and did NOT allow smoking) was:

Trucha (La)
Manuel Fernández y González, 3 Madrid 28014
Neighborhood: Huertas & Santa Ana
Metro - Sevilla [phone]

A very good place for the Fabada is:

Casa Lastra Sidrería *****
C/Olivar 3 Tel: [phone]. Metro Antón Martín/bus 6, 26, 32.
Open 8pm-midnight Mon; 1-5pm, 8pm-midnight Tue, Thur-Sat; 1-5pm Sun; closed Wed.

Here is a link to an entire thread on Madrid (Funny how it is mostly Barcelona on this board)

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...