August 23, 2024 Lunch - Chiringuito Parrrilla in Meron.
We got up early and dressed and drove into the center a bit after 9:00. The streets were practically empty but we could find no on-street parking so we parked in the large parking garage and walked across the bridge to town.
We purchased a ham and cheese pastry and a chocolate croissant in a nice bakery, Then we looked for but could not find a decent breakfast place so we settled for the one on the corner of downtown that offered minimal service and menu. I ordered a dry baguette toasted served with small containers of butter and marmalade with two slices of processed cheese on it.
I had to remove the cheese, open the butter and spread it with the steak knife offered and then open the marmalade container and spread it on the butter and then replace the cheese. I also ordered a cup of chocolate that was thick and creamy and very delicious. Suzette ordered a cup of coffee that was strong enough to amount to two cups of regular strength coffee.
We then walked to the Tourist Information Office and got a map and directions to the castle.
San Vicente was a walled city startling the spine of a ridge that rises between the bay and the river. This week San Vicente is celebrating a Medieval Fair and the road up to the castle was filled with vendors selling all kinds of things from jewelry, to herbs, to candy, to baked goods. I bought an almond cookie at the baked goods stall for a little added energy.
It was a pretty steep walk to the castle that guarded the entrance to the upper walled town. We entered the castle and toured it, which was rather exerting for me and helped register almost 4000 steps.
I was tired after walking up to and around the castle, so we decided to drive east along the coastline. We walked back across the river where we saw small schools of fish in the river and fetched our car and then drove across the bridge with arches to the east side of the bay.
In about four miles we came to a highly rated restaurant at the Meron beach named Churinguito Parrilla so we pulled in and created a parking space in front of a truck surrounded by high weeds. I can not emphasize how difficult it is to find a parking place in a heavily visited tourist town like San Vicente. It is infuriating and depressing at the same time and convinced us to give up on considering it for a long term stay.
We arrived at Churinguito at 12:30 and were told that lunch service would began at 1:00 so we went to the bar and saw that the bar had Rivera Vermouth on tap, so we ordered two vermouths and sat at a table under awnings outside the restaurant and sipped our red vermouths until 12:57 when we returned to the restaurant area. We presented ourselves for lunch at 12:58 and the lady let us take a table. We were soon followed by a horde of others that soon filled the over 100 seat restaurant. Everyone seemed to order the 19 Euro Menu of the Day that included a starter course, an entree, bread, a cold 2 liter bottle of water, a bottle of wine (we chose a delightful Verdejo from Rueda), and either a dessert or a cup of coffee.
I started with a tomato, tuna, asparagus, carrot, lettuce, green olive, and egg salad that filled a large pasta bowl and filled me up. Suzette’s starter was a tuna and potato soup that was very delicious and apparently a local favorite because many people ordered it.
I was torn between entrecôte and Hake and shrimp meatballs for my second course so I asked the waiter, a tall dark skinned man, which was better and he recommended the meatballs in a marinara sauce. Suzette chose squid with wild asparagus for her second course.
The difference between asparagus and wild asparagus is that wild asparagus are fresh green asparagus and plain asparagus as in the salad were conserved white asparagus from a bottle packed in water. Actually I have become fond of the conserved watery white asparagus in salads.
Suzette’s squid were small tubes of tender squid sautéed with a few diced asparagus. My dish was more interesting. The meatballs were breaded and lightly sautéed arranged on a puddle of light tomato sauce and garnished attractively with micro greens. We shared the dishes and they were better together.
We enjoyed our all of our Entrees with bread and wine, but could not finish either. The it was time for dessert. Again I asked the waiter to choose between the chocolate mousse and a flan flavored with a cream liquor named Orujo Cream topped with cream caramel. It suggested the fan, so siphon we were staring a fantastic flan made almost entirely of egg whites and cream liquor. Suzette called it a fancy marshmallow. I loved it, a sweet creamy spongy meringue with a great caramel sauce topping. One of the best desserts I have had in a long time. Suzette’s cafe con leche was great also, a thick layer of creamy foam on a small cup of coffee.
We loved lunch and gladly paid our 38 Euros and then I had difficulty getting up from the table after all the wonderful food.
I prevailed upon Suzette to drive us home. Luckily the roads were not crowded at 2:30.
When we returned to our room we fell into our beds and napped until 4:30 and then we lay in bed and rested for the rest of the evening until 8:00 when we split a beer and watched the sun set for a few minutes.
Dinner was out of the question, but we discussed strategies for how we could avoid over-eating in the middle of the day.
Willy called later to see how we were doing and told us the market went up on Powell’s announcement confirming a Fed rate cut in September.
My portfolio had a good day with Nvidia up $5.63 and Apple up $2.31.
We enjoyed relaxing all evening, although we did a little work. Suzette checked on her water technician certificate and I created and sent an invoice to the title company closing a house sale in my probate.
We will eat breakfast at the Posada in the morning and drive east past Comillas to a public swimming pool.
Bon Appetit
No comments:
Post a Comment