September 22, 2023 Dinner - Restaurant Enrique, Solares
It rained off and on much of the day. We went to breakfast at 9:30. This was the first time for Suzette to see the entire spread. The cremara tortilla was mostly eggplant and green beans, so not as interesting as yesterday. I took a slice of cured beef, and two slices of ham and two small integral croissants, plus a bowl of cereal with milk raisins, hazelnuts, yogurt, and plum preserves. I slathered the croissants with butter and bitter orange preserves. I drank a glass of orange juice and Suzette drank coffee.
We then drove looking for a wine shop that had Guerra Vermouth.
We first stopped at the local Lupa supermarket, where we bought a bottle of Spanish olive oil.
We then drove out to an industrial zone about ten minutes from Solares and found a large Eroski market, where we bought a bottle of vermouth, Riccola cough drops, and kleenex.
We returned to Solares Termal around 1:00. On our way back we saw a sign for an Antique store, so we drove to it. It was located next to an old palace and had the most extensive assortment of chandeliers I have ever seen in an antique store and lovely old furniture, none of which we could take on the flight back.
When we returned to the room the house cleaning lady was just five minutes away from cleaning our room so we went down to the bar for a drink to give her time to clean the room.
The bar is elegant and had very comfortable chairs. We ordered a bottle of Solares water to wet our dry throats after all the driving and shopping and read for a while and nibbled the bowl of potato chips that were served with the water.
After we returned to the room we rested until around 5:00 when Rahim called and I worked with him for two hours on a draft of an agreement.
We then dressed and walked downstairs. At the front desk we asked the front desk to call Restaurant Enrique and make a reservation for us.
The clerk called and made a reservation for 8:30.
It was 7:30 so we walked toward the restaurant that is located near the train station.
We stopped at a bar in a charming older building on a busy corner on the way and sipped a vermouth. Suzette’s was red and mine was white. We were each served the tapa of the day, a slice of Spanish Torttilla with tuna on slice of baguette.
We enjoyed the pleasant surroundings and the Spanish vermouth served with a green lcandied cherry and a slice of orange.
Then around 8:15 we continued walking to Restaurant Enrique. When we arrived they said to wait 10 minutes.
In a few minutes we were seated in the dining room. There was one other couple.
We looked at the menu and each of us saw a dish we wanted, for Suzette it was Entrecôte with Foie Gras, for me it was a stew of sweetbreads and mushrooms.
We also wanted to share a fish soup.
The wine was a bit more tricky because of our lack of knowledge. Because Suzette ordered steak, we decided on a bottle of Red Rioja. There were two reservas that looked like likely candidates, so I asked the lady who was our waitress which of the two she recommended and she unhesitatingly recommended the Marquez de Vargas 2017, so that is what we chose. At €28, the price was almost what on line liquor stores sold it for and it received a 4.2 average rating on Vivino.
It was the first Rioja we drank on the trip and it was wonderful, soft tannins and a vanilla flavor made it slide down one’s throat.
We also ordered water and were soon served a bottle of Solares mineral water.
Even the bread was great and there was a pad of butter on the table ready for smearing on it.
Soon the lady brought a medium sized soup tureen and filled our bowls with a lovely red tinted broth fish soup that contained clams, shrimp, chunks of fish (probably hake) and shredded bread. It was delicious.
We enjoyed the hot soup, especially because it was a cool rainy night.
Several minutes after we finished the soup the lady brought our entrees.
Suzette’s entrecôte was huge and she admitted that the soup completely satisfied her, so we decided to ask the lady to slice the steak into thin slices so we could eat it as steak sandwiches for dinner tomorrow evening.
My stew of sweetbreads with a variety of mushrooms was exactly what I wanted and it was the second best sweetbread dish I have ever eaten. Even better than my mother’s breaded and sautéed sweetbreads. The best dish still remains the sweetbreads en croute I ate at Scandia Restaurant on Sunset in Los Angeles in the 1970’s when it was a top restaurant.
This dish was wonderful because the sweetbreads and mushrooms had been cooked until tender and the variety of mushrooms was impressive with lots of setas/porcini mushrooms as well as button and shiitake mushrooms.
After I finished we looked at the dessert menu. Suzette had reached her limit long ago but the lady told us they made a special dessert that I should try and I said “Yes.”
Soon another soup bowl was brought with a white and a dark yellow mound floating in creme anglais. The lady explain that the darker mound was meringue that had been cooked in the oven.
I immediately said, “En ingles, Floating Island.”
The lady exclaimed, “si, isla flotante!”
So I had in tonight’s meal, a great fish soup, one of my all time favorite dishes of sweetbreads, and one of my all time favorite desserts.
This, among many good dinners, was the best meal of the trip for me.
The lady had the kitchen slice and pack the steak and foie in a plastic box and she corked the wine and bagged them for us.
She asked was there anything else and I said, “a Torres 10”.
She brought out two of the most beautiful brandy sniffers we had ever seen and poured us Torres 10 brandy.
We sat for a few minutes and sipped brandy to settle our stomaches and then paid the €105 bill and walked back to the Thermal Hotel in a drizzle. As we walked Suzette mentioned, “Did you know, she did not charge us for the Brandies?”
What gracious hospitality.
I did wake up at 2:00 and ate some yogurt to calm the bacteria in my gut and finish this blog.
Bon Appetit
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