Some madrid questions

[ArepaDeHuevo]

We only have a few days in Madrid, and there are some tough choices to make:

For a high end meal:

La Broche
Senzon
Coque
Or another?

And for dish and seafood:

Combarro
O'Pazo
Or?

Which Asador, if any, should we dedicate a lunch to?

Your suggestions will be much appreciated.

-AdH

[internationalfoodie]

i think everyone's advice here has been spectacular, i would just like to add that Juana La Loca in La Latina has great inventive tapas, although is a bit pricier than regular tapas bars the food is delicious. They do not accept credit cards so make sure you have cash!

[natasja]

La Broche will be closing. They lost their lease in the Miguel Angel Hotel. This was not a surprise, the quality of the restaurant and the service has been extremely irregular for quite some time and they have not been doing much business. The more Sergi Arola appears on the television the worse his restaurants are doing. For upscale modern try the Casino or Sant Celoni.

Combarro is correct but overpriced. Danxtari is a better alternative, as is Laredo for some of the best seafood at reasonable prices.

[Maribel]

Arepa de Huevo,

La Broche has moved to new quarters on Calle Zurbano 31 with a new name, "Sergi Arola Gastro". It has just been reviewed on the ABC newspaper food critic's blog, Salsa de Chiles, and in El Mundo (Metrópoli).

Arola is offering set menus only here-no a la carte dining. The 2 1/2 hr., "pull out all the stops", Gastro degustation menu goes for 140 euros with snacks, 3 tapas, 4 starters, 2 meat courses, 2 fish courses plus 3 desserts. A reduced version is offered at 120.

A weekday executive lunch menu is also offered for 85 euros, consisting of a starter, half portion of meat, half portion of fish, a light dessert and 2 glasses of wine.
(The above info comes from Carlos Maribona's gastronomic blog).

www.sergiarola.es

[afteryouwho]

You have some excellent opinions on here (some I agree with and some not). There is a classic restaurant that I always take my visitors to that most people forget about. It is Principe de Viana and is a flagship restaurant for great Basque food. It belongs to the same family that opened Zalacain that was for years considered topnotch dining in Madrid and internationally.

As for tapas, man you just have to choose an area and jump in. Some places you will like and some you can't get out of fast enough. But it's like a lot of things in life: who knows what's gonna turn you on!

[PBSF]

For high end modern Spanish cooking, La Broche is probably the best in Madrid. Though I've had a couple of very good meals there (most recent early 2007), I don't think it is as good as some of the best in the Basque area or around Catalunya such as Arzak, Akelere, Can Roca. You might be mildly disappointed if you’ve dined at any of those. You might consider Sant Celoni, though the cooking is more traditional, the dining room more formal and more expensive. I have not eaten there but I've had some of the best food at Chef Santi Santimaria's flagship restaurant in Sant Celoni, outside of Barcelona. I've also gotten good report from couple of friends who ate there recently.
Coque is excellent but it is far out in the suburb, therefore, it might not be feasible if you’re in Madrid for just a few days. It is much more traditional, more of of an asador.
If you are referring to Senzone, I have never been since I am not a big fan of Mugaritz.
I also second Viridiana for excellent food but it is more eclectic and not “high-end luxurious”.
I don’t think there is much of a difference between the top Galician restaurants such as Combarro, O’Pazo or La Trainera. They all serve great seafood but the cost can be as expensive as any high-end restaurant in Madrid.
Two asadors that I like are Ansorene and Tierra Aranda.

[ArepaDeHuevo]

Thanks. We've eaten at Sant Celoni (talk about a far suburb, what a trek from BCN) and had an excellent time, but I'd rather eat there again and try something different in Madrid, so I guess it will be La Broche.

The Viridiana menu looks very cool... who can hate a restaurant that has Espacio exclusivo para amantes del colesterol? :)

Thanks both of you for your suggestions.
-AdH

[ArepaDeHuevo]

On to tapas questions - which of the following would you go to (or skip) and what's missing?

La Venencia
Casi En Huertas
Taberna Dolores
El Abuelo
Los Caracoles
El Sur
Oreja Del Oro
Viavelez taberna
Taberna el torito
La Cantamora
Taberna Chamberi
Taberna Baztan
La Merced
La Bayuca
Menendez Pelayo
El Puerto de Pozuelo
Taberna las Botas
La Sede
Vinoteca Mauro
Melo's
La Concha
La Chata
Casa Lucas
Casa Lucio

Tempranillo
Almendro 13
Juana La Loca
Almacen de Vino
Casa Labra

[PBSF]

Wow, that is some list.
My advice for tapas is usually pick an area and do a tapa crawl. Most tapas places specialize a few items, some just one or two. Some of my favorites are:
Huertas: Taberna de Dolores, Taberna de Bilbao, Cerveceria Cervantes.
Santa Ana: Casa Alberto, La Trucha(one on c/Manuel Fernandez y Gonzalez), La Toscana, La Costa de Vejer.
Off Sol are Casa Labra and Taberneros.
La Latina where numerous tapa places on Cava Baja: Casa Lucas, El Tempranillo, Taberna Almendro are just a few.
Chueca: try Bocaito at c/Libertat 4-6, Cerveceria Santa Barbara on Plaza Santa Barbara 8, La Bardemcilla on Augusto Figueroa 47 and Santander on Augusto Figueroa 25.
I wouldn't go out of the way just to sample a tapas bar.There are just too many good ones to list them all. One can’t go wrong, except the ones on the Plaza Mayor.

[Maribel]

Here are some I would make a priority; some I would skip, others I'd add:

In Huertas:

Taberna Dolores (great draft beer and canapes)
ADD Cervecería Cervantes (same street) for its tostadas (de salmón, de anchoas, de solomillo)
SKIP Casi en Huertas for a meal-just stick to wine!
And SKIP El Abuelo (foul sweet wine).
Ditto to La Valencia, primarily tourists.

In Lavapiés:

Keep Melo's (old time Galician, lacón and ribeiro wines)
ADD La Musa de la Espronceda (Santa Isabel 17)

In La Latina:

Casa Lucas (very creative tapas/small plates).
Casa Lucio is for sit down classic dining & celebrity gazing.
Huevos de Lucio, across the street, is the informal tapas/small plates place, run by his kinder.
Tempranillo (nice wines by the glass & tostas),
Almendro 13 (finos and huevos rotos, roscas),
Juana la Loca serves nanopintxos (miniscule), might skip.
Taberna Bilbao (Costanilla de San Andrés 8), decent Basque.
ADD Orixe on Cava Baja (updated Galician tapas, albariños).
ADD Matritum on Cava Alta for one of Madrid's very best wine bistros!
ADD Cava Blanca on Cava Alta if Matritum is full-creative small plates.
SKIP La Chata and Los Caracoles.

Off Arenal, bwt Sol and Opera:

ADD Taberneros, sister to Matritum-fantasic wine bistro, highly creative fare!

On Atocha:
SKIP La Sede

Around Sol:
SKIP Casa Labra if fine wine you're after. Or just have a croqueta and a fino at this old time classic.

Might add a crawl in Chueca:

Bocaito (Andalusian)
La Bardemcilla (belongs to actor Javier Bardem's family; try a croqueta Jamón-Jamón
Bodega de Angel Sierra (for vermouth)

BTW, Taberna Viaveléz is way up in the northern business district on General Perón 10, near the Estadio Bernabeu.

Have fun sampling!

[cleveland park]

For high end la broche is good, I like viridiana though. For fish you should try el cantabrico, but for higher end sit down la trainera is amazing (but be prepared to drop some serious cash here). For asador, I like Asador Fronton better than asador donostiarra and txistu.