August 15, 2023 Lunch - Chigre Antonju Sideria

 August 15, 2023 Lunch - Chigre Antonju Sideria 

This was a travel day and travel days are never easy but this one proved harder than some others because the Air BNB we rented was located at the highest point in Oviedo and a long walk from where we parked the car.

The center of Orvieto is a pedestrian walking zone. That must be one of the reasons Willy loved Orvieto.

But our adventure in travel started earlier. Suzette made a perfect cup of coffee and I made tea and she heated and ate the croissant we bought yesterday and I made a melted Serrano ham and Iberico cheese sandwich and Suzette sliced two figs and lay them on a bed of yogurt for a lovely breakfast.

Then we gathered up our gear and took it to the street.p at 11:00.

There were no taxis and we had been unsuccessful in calling for a taxi.

Suzette came up with the best idea of the trip so far. We went next door to the Goya Restaurant and asked the cleaning lady to call a taxi to the restaurant. 

The taxi delivered us to the rental car office area and we rented a car but the had to carry the gear and food all the way to the car lot at the other end of the airport that probably was 1/4 mile.

When we packed the car we took off and things got better fast.

The road was along the coast with beautiful vistas of the ocean and after we entered Asturias, we drove along the side of the Picos de Europa, the fog shrouded high peaks that almost reach the coast. It was a beautiful drive.

We drove to Llanes, which had several highly rated restaurants, some with Michelin stars. There was an active beach scene when we arrived and parking was impossible near the restaurant we first drove to so we picked a less highly rated Sideria, Chigre Antonju Sideria in the center and were lucky to find a parking spot beside the marina near the Main Street of Llanes.  We walked up the street two blocks to one of the main crosswalks and found the Sideria around the corner. Unfortunately it was crowded.  The waiter told me to check back in twenty minutes, so we walked back to a bar at the corner where there was an open table and ordered two ciders.

The cider was very yeasty and dry, and very refreshing and our seats were almost in sight of Antonju, so after fifteen minutes I took my glass of cider and returned to Antonju and was told to wait against the wall opposite the restaurant and that I was third in line for a table, so I waited. In a few minutes Suzette joined me and the other two groups were seated and we were told to sit by the door.  Finally, we were seated near the kitchen at the last table in the small restaurant.

As we looked around and watched was coming out of the kitchen, we soon discovered that everyone was ordering Cachopas that are like a battered and fried bread less Cubans sandwich with thin layers of pork, serrano ham, and cheese battered and fried. They ones served at Antonju are XXL and fill a 2 x 3 foot wide plastic platter. We decided to order No. 1  with a blue cheese called Germnou??, serrano ham, pork, and sautéed onions.  Suzette suggested ordering the single serving size even though we saw many customers attacking the larger size. The waitress also recommended an appetizer of chorizo cooked in cider.

Soon the chorizo was served and it was delicious.  The cider seemed soften and lighten the heaviness of the chorizo and the cooking seemed to draw out some of the fat.

Soon after we gobbled up slices of chorizo dipped into the cooking medium, the Cachopa came. The single service size was about 16 inches by 24 inches. We ate and ate and still had to ask the waitress to box a third of it. It was rated greasy and left a puddle of grease on the paper table cloth. I liked the floury batter that was soft and mixed with the meat and onion juices.

We ordered another bottle of cider and the waitress poured the first bit into a glass held low by her hip from the liter bottle held high above her head in the traditional manner of Asturias.

The XXL Cachopas were €31.50, the single sizes were €23.00 and our bill was €32.00, 

We then walked back to the car and drove to Oviedo which is inland and cooler and overcast when we arrived.  We tried to drive to the apartment and could not. So we parked and Suzette called and finally the grand daughter of the proprietress and her friend came to our car.

It was decided that they would ride with us and help us find the apartment.

They directed us to an underground parking garage under a fountain across the street from San Francisco Park helped us carry our grips up the stairs and then up the walking street toward the main Cathedral.  We then turned onto Calle cimadelvilla where the apartment was located. For those who do not speak Spanish, Cima del Villa means the summit of the Villa.

To say it was a challenging walk for me was an understatement. The people were charming, but obviously acclimated to walking this area.

They showed us around the apartment and helped us fill out our form of notice to the police of our stay.

We were tired and stuffed with Cachopa and could not eat anything else so we put on our pajamas and Suzette tried to reserve a visit to caves without success. 

We watched a bit of CNN and found out that Trump and 18 others had been charged with a series of crimes by the Fulton County Grand Jury.

Suzette went to bed and I read about one half of the indictment to Action 105 that were very compelling.  It identified individual action, such as calling a state representative and lying about how election workers were counting votes by dead people to solicit them to call a special legislative session to chose Trump’s fake electors instead of the real electors. That action was identified as the crime of soliciting a public official to break their oath of office. So very specific acts were identified as very specific crimes.

I then went to sleep and awakened at 4:45 to blog this entry.

Oviedo is a lovely walkable town. I just hope my legs are up to it.

Bon Appetit