Tapas 24, Barcelona

Tapas 24 was recommended to us as one of the less-expensive places to sample the kind of food has earned Spain the reputation of being the home of the world's best cuisine. It's a very hip place with great food and miserable chairs -- tall, virtually backless stools, with such poorly positioned foot rests that both of us were left with our tootsies dangling -- too low for me, too high for him. However, the tables have hooks underneath that are great for hanging purses, motorcycle helmets and shopping bags, keeping them out of the way of other diners and Barcelona's notorious pickpockets.

A lot of the menu items were very nice twists on old favorites. Our choices included patatas bravas (nice golden spud fingers drizzled with garlic mayo and a spicy red sauce), rinxos (curried skewered lamb, tender, succulent, rich, yum), bikini (a grilled sandwich of buffalo mozzarella and jamon serrano, cut into vaguely bikini shaped triangles), and McFoie (beef and foie gras ground, grilled, and served on a bun). For dessert we had chocolate gelato, which had a pudding-like texture. It was drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. The result was amazing: very rich, not very sweet, and so intensely flavorful it hardly seemed cold.

This was definitely one of the top meals of the trip. Everything was very familiar, but more interesting and tasty than the usual version.

Another plus, Tapas 24 is in Barcelona's l'Eixample district, with its wealth of fascinating Modernisme architecture. After lunch we walked and walked, ending up in Gaudi-designed Guell Park. Looking at the amazing mosaics made me want to cover my whole house (or at least the kitchen backsplash or a garden path or ...) with pique assiette.