New feature: Ask a Madrileño!

The first in a monthly series focused on food talk with people from Madrid

Welcome to Ask a Madrileño, a new feature here at Come como Kiki. Once a month, I’ll sit down with someone who lives in the city for a chat about food culture and all things culinary here in Spain.

And who better to kick off the series than Come como Kiki’s resident Madrileño, David (my partner)? A true gato,¹ David has the experience of someone who has lived in Madrid his entire life. Read on to see whether he prefers cochinillo² or lechazo³ and why you should maybe go outside of Madrid if you want to eat paella.

Migas with fried eggs and grapes—one of David’s favorites—prepared back when I lived in Chicago

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What’s one food you can’t live without?

I would say tomatoes—nice, ripe summer tomatoes. I’ve always liked tomatoes, since I was little, and they’re one of my favorite things to eat with… pretty much anything. My favorite way to eat them: with just a little bit of olive oil and coarse salt, and sometimes a touch of good balsamic. And caldo⁴ in the winter. Because I couldn’t love anything more than that in the winter. Winter isn’t too long here, but I push the caldo season a lot.

Do you have something you’ll never eat or something that you’ve tried and you’ll never eat again?

No. I would probably retry anything that I’ve eaten and not liked. And there are many weird things out there that I haven’t eaten, but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t try them.

What’s your favorite merienda?

Probably jamón ibérico, fuet, and olives with a good piece of chapata (ciabatta).

Favorite traditional Spanish dish?

Migas [pictured above], paella, tortilla, and maybe callos.⁵

And your favorite non-Spanish cuisine or dish?

My favorite dish… could be a true carbonara, ma una vera carbonara [shouts in Italian, exaggerating his accent]. As far as cuisines, I’m a big fan of the whole process that’s behind barbecuing and smoking. Seems simple, but it takes hours and hours and insane expertise! Italian, too, especially the four traditional Roman pastas: carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana and alla gricia. I read someone refer to them as The Roman Holy Trinity of Pasta (they left out alla gricia)—I liked that. Also Neopolitan pizza. And Japanese, especially when it gets out of the norm. More like what you would find in an Izakaya instead of just rolls or nigiri.

Pulled pork barbecue and sweet potato fries from a local restaurant in Virginia

If you cook (which you do), who taught you?

Well, first my mom and then YouTube. And traditional French cookbooks.

Anyone in particular on YouTube that you like?

It’s not YouTube purely, but Kenji [López-Alt], and Alex (French Guy Cooking). There’s Babbish that I like, too; he’s cool.

If someone is coming to Spain for the first time, what’s a food they can’t miss?

For such a small country Spain offers an insane variety of foods, and not only that, it varies a lot from one region to another. Food plays a huge role in our culture. I’d start with a good tortilla de patata, and I mean a good tortilla de patata [laughs], which aren’t always easy to find. Then fish and seafood, in all different types of preparations—from tinned to steamed to grilled to fried. And to finish, a good chuletón.⁶ The way the animals are raised and how the meat is aged here is special and different from what you find in other countries. Don’t forget about jamón, of course. True, 100% pure ibérico. And paella valenciana, but preferably not in Madrid or Barcelona.

Why, yes, that is a fried fish biting its tail! It’s called a pijota.

Where should someone go to try good paella?

Somewhere in Valencia or Alicante, even better if it’s a pueblo.⁷ Paella is best when it’s made over a wood fire—it reaches a whole other level—and that’s unrealistic in Madrid or Barcelona. I’m not a professional, but paella takes a lot of time and space in the kitchen. So even if a restaurant has the setup for the fire, paellas [the pans] are big—and the more people you feed, the bigger the pan has to be to keep the right proportion and thickness of the rice layer. Otherwise the rice doesn’t cook evenly. There are some good restaurants in Madrid but I’d probably recommend going outside of the city.

What is your favorite restaurant in Madrid?

Tough one even when I knew it was coming! I feel that this question could be a whole interview on its own. To me the answer would depend on what I want to eat—I tend to choose where I’m going based on what I feel like eating at that particular moment. One of the best all-rounders would be La Primera: the food is great; the service, location, and decor are too; and it’s reasonably priced. Plus they have one of the best cheesecakes in the city, and their tortilla is top-notch. Ah! And they have a bar where you can enjoy a drink and a quick bite. Some other of my favorites are Pelotari (I’ve been a fan since I was a kid and used to go with my father), Carbón Negro, Casa Dani, Filandón, and most recently I really enjoyed a visit to Nakeima.

Now it’s time for This or That. I’m going to give you two choices, and you have to pick only one. Ready?

Yep.

Migas con o sin uvas (Breadcrumbs fried with chorizo and other meats with or without grapes)?

With grapes. I like the sweet/acidic touch; it’s a good contrast to the fat [that comes from the meats in the dish].

Patatas bravas o dos salsas (Fried cubed potatoes with a spicy sauce, or with two sauces—spicy sauce plus garlic mayonnaise)?

Bravas. [Why?] Because it’s the only way they should be eaten [laughs].

Cochinillo o lechazo (Suckling pig or suckling lamb)?

I go to Segovia pretty often and when I’m in the city I tend to choose cochinillo. But anywhere else I usually go for lechazo; it has a stronger flavor and when roasted correctly it’s a delicacy. It’s a close call, but lechazo wins it 60-40.

Cochinillo ready to be served at José María, a famous restaurant in Segovia. They bring it whole to the dining area and then cut it with a dinner plate to demonstrate how tender it is.

Gazpacho o salmorejo?

Gazpacho. It’s less dense, less heavy. Salmorejo for me is something to eat once every so often, but gazpacho I can eat every day.

Tortilla de patata con o sin cebolla (Potato omelette with or without onion)?

For me with, because I like the sweet touch. But I’ve had good non-onion tortilla, like in Betanzos.

Nutella o Nocilla (another brand of chocolate hazelnut spread)?

When I was little I don’t think I ate much of that. My grandma used to chop chocolate into teeny pieces, almost like a dust, to put on bocadillos—she spread some butter on the bread before adding the chocolate on top. Now I eat Nutella mostly, but I don’t know why. I couldn’t say that it’s because I don’t like Nocilla. I’d have to try both at the same time.

Sweet or savory?

For me savory, always.

Thanks, David!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments—David’s offered to answer any follow up questions (actually he said it was so fun he wants to do another interview in the future)! And if you have any burning questions you’d like me to ask our future interviewees, let me know!

Hasta el viernes!⁸

Ki

1. Gato: Literally “cat,” a gato in this sense is a person who was born in Madrid and has two generations of their family also from Madrid (so parents and grandparents).

2. Cochinillo: Suckling pig

3. Lechazo: Suckling lamb

4. Caldo: Chicken stock (he’s talking about the homemade kind). Usually eaten on its own or with small noodles and pieces of chicken that were used in making the stock.

5. Callos: Tripe stewed with paprika and other spices

6. Chuletón: Cut of steak similar to rib-eye, bone-in

7. Pueblo: Small town

8. Hasta el viernes: Until Friday/See you Friday