Sasa Mahr-Batuz - The Barcelona Cookbook A Celebration of Food, Wine, and Life

This book would not be possible without the genius and creativity of chefs both past and present: Martha Hartley, Bill Rosenberg, Dave Curtis, Jose Palacios, Pedro Garzon, Elder Morales, Antonio Saldana, and Victor Sanchez all have invented and perfected the dishes that appear on these pages. Pedro and Adam Halberg have shaped the menus for the company as a whole, and Lisa Varnberg, in addition to creating some Barcelona classics, spent countless hours testing and transcribing recipes that were little more than scribbled notes on crumpled paper when she got them. Gretchen Thomas poured her encyclopedic knowledge of wine onto these pages. Mary Goodbody worked day and night to turn our thoughts into words and even spent time shivering in fish coolers and butchering steaks. Jean Lucas, Kirsty Melville, and Tim Lynch at Andrews McMeel believed in Barcelona and in us enough to see this book through from beginning to end, and Jane Dystel, our inimitable agent, made the whole thing happen. We are deeply indebted to them for handling the hard part so that we could continue making tapas, pouring wine, and serving tables.

Over the past five years, tapas bars have become increasingly popular, along with their steady stream of small plates such as grilled mushrooms, patatas bravas, gambas al ajillo, jamn Ibrico, croquetas, stuffed piquillo peppers, and hundreds of other small-portion Spanishand not-so-Spanishdishes.

Yankee Connecticut might be the last place youd expect a tapas bar and restaurant to be successful, but Andy Pforzheimer and his business partner, Sasa Mahr-Batuz, have proved that tasty, quickly prepared Spanish-inspired food, a wonderful wine list, and the lively, informal ambience for which tapas bars are famous can be a hit anywhere. They began their Barcelona Restaurant and Wine Bar concept several years ago with a single modest place across from a new movie theater in a then-gentrifying commercial section of South Norwalk (SoNo). The original Barcelona boomed, expanded into a full restaurant in its SoNo locale, and has since grown into a chain of five. Andy and Sasa are obviously bullish about tapas; they are preparing to open a sixth location in Stamford.

Tapas are going mainstream, and are heading toward the same general acceptance as pizza and sushi. And Barcelona will be a major player in making tapas as American as pizza, sushi, and, who knows, apple pie. For me, a forty-year veteran of gastronomic and wine travel in Spain, driving an hour from my home in the Hudson River valley to one of the Barcelona Restaurant and Wine Bars to enjoy a meal from the Spanish-inspired tapas menu and a good bottle of wine from the well-chosen list is the next best thing to being in Spain.

The lights are dim, the music is loud but not overpowering, the conversation is punctuated with laughter. Most of all, the heady aromas emanating from the kitchenan intoxicating blend of garlic, grilled meats, shellfish, wine, and paprikaexcite the senses. This is going to be a great evening! Look around. The walls are covered with bold art, the tables are topped with flickering candles and white cloths, the floor is polished tile and wood. You might have been transported to a fashionable eatery somewhere along the Mediterranean coast to believe it, all you have to do is close your eyes and breathe it all in.

Welcome to the world of Barcelona Restaurant and Wine Bars. None of the six establishments is in Europe; all are in Connecticut, the New England state where Mark Twain lived and wrote. Nothing about any of our wine bars and restaurants has much to do with Connecticut Yankees if you discount the fresh food grown lovingly on local farms. Instead, we are dedicated to the easy, good food and dining attitudes of Spainwith some very positive nods to the cooking of the United States and a few other countries. We search for the best ingredients at the local markets and from nearby farms. We also rely on imported Spanish spices, olive oils, vinegars, cheeses, olives, and cured meats. All of this bounty is used in dishes that are cooked simply so that the flavors burst into life.