Friday, October 26, 2012

It rained off and on all day yesterday.  The rain did not get in our way of visiting the market to pick up some smoked turkey, some cheese, fruits and vegetables.  When we returned home, I worked on the blog and the translations and Susan was busy working on the pictures that she shot at the winery.  Before we knew it, it was 2:00 o’clock and it was time for lunch.

We decided that it was time to explore a bit and after consulting several reviews we decided that we would try Restaurante Morgado.  It took us a good twenty minutes to walk there and when we walked through the doors almost all the tables in this small restaurant were occupied.  We were shown to our table and they took our drink order.  We were then given the menus and told that the chef – who is also the owner – would visit our table to let us know what were the specials of the day.

As we looked over the menu we munched on the olives and chips that had been placed before us with our drinks.  While studying the menu, Juan Morgado, the chef/owner, joined us at our table.  At his suggestion we ordered a baked potato stuffed with foie, gambas rojas de Denia as our starters and a fideuá made with garbanzos, ham and bacon as our main dish.  The sommelier came by our table and helped us with our wine selection.  I decided to stay local in our wine choice and chose a bottle that was priced at 22 Euros.  There were options that were priced at 100 Euros and above.  I imagine that you now have figured out that we were in a rather high-end restaurant.

Our meal began with a complimentary appetizer of a whole marinated white anchovy served with a spicy pepper and a dash of chopped tomato.  The potato with foie was a taste treat.  The potato had been backed and the insides scooped up and mixed with the foie and then the mixture was put back into the potato skin.  The red shrimp were large, cooked on the flatiron with a little olive oil and salt and were unbelievably good and unbelievably expensive…but well worth the price.  The fideuá was next and it too was pleasing to the eye, to our sense of smell and to our taste buds.  We were unable to finish it, but, of course, there is always room for dessert.  We shared a truffle bathed in hot chocolate sauce.  We finished the meal with coffee and a chupito.  As if we weren’t full enough, the chef sent over a plate of cookies that are typical of Extremadura and, as it turns out, that is where he is from.  He has been in Valencia for many years and he opened this space some sixteen years ago.

By the time we left, the rain had begun again and we were able to find a taxi nearby and we were back home in less than ten minutes.  It was definitely siesta time and when I awoke from my nap, I spent a bit more time translating.  At around 7:45 I headed out for a meeting of the veteranos and traffic turned out to be horrendous. It seems that when it rains, more people use their cars instead of public transportation.  More cars make for more traffic.  Our meeting lasted until 9:30 and for the most part we chatted about mentalism because a famous Spanish mentalist, Anthony Blake, is at the Olympia Theater for a four day run.  Gurrea was kind enough to drive me home and I kept myself busy with a variety of tasks until midnight and then I went to bed.