Unauthorized

This is the tapas bar and casual restaurant of José Gomez, the owner of Spain’s Joselito, the country’s most famous farmer/proprietor of the Iberico Bellota hams. Sula has over 500 different types of wines, mostly Spanish, and the kitchen staff was trained by the well-known Valencian chef, Quique Dacosta. I enjoyed a delicious lunch, and, in addition to the regular items on the menu, owner Gomez was kind enough to have brought in some extraordinary seafood. Joselito is the great name for Iberico Bellota in Spain. They do about 90,000 legs per year, all on allocation and with a long waiting list. Each of the Grand Reserva Iberico legs retails for 3,000 euros! The pigs, which are raised on the family farm, eat acorns as well as truffles between November and March. This is considered to contribute to their flavor profile. The rest of the year they graze freely on local grasses, herbs, and flowers. There is nothing in the world like this ham. I don’t say that lightly being a big fan of some of the artisinal American, French, and Italian hams. Sitting down with José Gomez and hearing him explain how his pigs are raised, and how the different meats are cured is an extraordinary experience. His top Iberico Bellota is aged 24 months on salt. No nitrates are used. Not only did we taste through that, the following cuts are also remarkable for their intensity and sweetness of flavors, and very different textures. The Loma Iberico is blended with pimento and is sliced like a salami. It is aged 5-6 months, and smoked naturally after it has been cured in a natural salt chamber. It’s good, but their Chorizio Iberico Bellota is absolutely the best Chorizio I have ever had in my life. It is much spicier. Another one that is almost over the top in flavor intensity is the Salchichón Iberico Bellota, which is super-intense, very meaty, and seems to have more fat content. It is aged 5-6 months in their bodegas. Interestingly, not only the Spanish government, but the purveyors of Iberico Bellota hams argue that the Oleic acid in the ham’s fats actually reduce the incidence of cardiovascular illness, something that is probably hard to believe when you look at the fat content. But when you see how lean the Spanish people are and how much ham they eat, one has to wonder. Another cut is the Longaniza, which is the least aged. It is cured three months after being aged in their salt chambers, and is a blend of sugar, pimento, garlic salt, and Iberico Bellota meat. All of this is available at Sula, the Joselito restaurant in Madrid, the reason I went there in the first place.

A surprising treat was the seafood that José Gomez had shipped in for the occasion. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the big, fat, fleshy oysters from Galicia, since I’m spoiled by the smaller oysters from the Pacific Northwest and the coast of California, especially Hog Island Farm and some of the purveyors in the Seattle region. What did blow me away were the Valencian shrimp called Quisquilla. Gomez suggested eating these alive, and frankly, I actually preferred them alive rather than cooked. It was like eating awesome sashimi with incredible sweetness of flavor. Apparently, this is the only place in the Mediterranean where these beautifully colored red shrimp, which come from a very rocky environment, can be found. We then had Camarones shrimp from Galicia. They were also very flavorful. What pushed the flavor to another level was the Galicien spider crabs called Centobla, also spelled Txangurro. This is a hairy crab, somewhat bigger than those found in Shanghai, China. They offer remarkable flavor, and I was warned that if this is the first time I had them, it could be a challenge for the intestinal track, but I didn’t have any subsequent problems. We then had the bigger Gambas from Galicia that were steamed. These were about as flavorful as I have ever had. They come from an area of Galicia known as Denia, and they are as big as French langoustines, but even sweeter in flavor.

We washed the food down with some very intriguing wines. I ordered a 2008 Shana Habis Rueda Old Vine Védejo, which was dry and crisp with lots of citrus and honey. It worked perfectly with both the Iberico Bellota and the seafood. Another beautiful match was the 2008 Avanthia Godelo from Valdeorras, which had lots of citrus, crushed rock, and a Muscadet-like minerally style. A third superb white wine was the 2008 Botani dry Muscat from Malaga. This was a terrific wine with lots of flavor, exotic tropical fruits in the nose, but super dry, crisp, and minerally in the mouth. It was my favorite of the whites. We also had a non-vintage Deutz Champagne, which was delicious, but I actually preferred the distinctive characters of the three Spanish whites. With some gorgeous sweetbreads (something I shouldn’t eat since they can promote gout) and a remarkable Tortilla Espagnol we had two terrific reds. The 2002 Aquilon, an old vine Grenache from Jumillo, was beautiful. Lots of kirsch, lavender, licorice, and darker fruits emerged from this full-bodied, beautifully dense wine. The 2003 Clio from Jumilla was also terrific. A blend of 70% Mourvèdre and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, it worked well with the food. We concluded with the luxury cuvée from the same winery, the 2003 El Nido, a 70% Cabernet Sauvignon / 30% Mourvèdre blend that was outstanding. It was rich, textured, and full-bodied with plenty of pepper, spice, blue and black fruits, and beautiful balance and intensity.

This is a very casual restaurant with wonderful ambiance and the “full monty” selection of the Joselito products, which is the reason I went there, and a terrific selection of wines in all price ranges. Very Highly Recommended.