Last spring, we had the chance to visit our friend James Miller at Mas Costa Besalu just outside the town of Besalu, in Spanish Catalonia. What an amazing experience! Besalu, it turns out, is a quiet little town of about 2500 people, which is a 45 minute walk from the Mas.  The town has retained much of its medieval charm dating from its  period as a center of local trade.  We lunched at  the historic Pont Vell, a family run restaurant founded in 1981. The restaurant is ideally located, at the city side of Besalu’s old bridge (Pont Vell), which dates from the 11th century.  Our table was on a little terrace located between the bridge’s arches and the river…could one ask for a better location?

At Pont Vell, the focus is on traditional Catalan dishes made with local ingredients, a model that has earned them a Michelin star.  The service was attentive, knowledgeable and friendly, the wine list loaded with organic and natural wines of the region and the food was excellent. It was April, so  spring produce of the region was featured as daily specials, including asparagus, strawberries and an excellent starter of artichokes sauteed with Iberico ham and Palo Cortado sherry vinegar. I especially enjoyed the house specialty, sweet and sour rabbit simmered with raisins, pine nuts and baked apple.  And it doesn’t hurt that the prices are extremely fair for a restaurant with one star.

Pont Vell
Address:  c/ Pont Vell 24, Besalú 17850
Tel:  (011 34) 972 59 10 27
Reservations: advised, especially in the summer.  On warm days, request a table on the terrace overlooking the river.

Spring onions, which we planted last fall from seed, are up and beautiful this April.  Along with nettles, bear’s garlic, asparagus and strawberries, early spring onions are, for me, an ingredient that fairly sings of spring.  Toss them in salads, sprinkle them on soups, over cold asparagus and grilled fish, fold them into mashed potatoes, roast them with a splash of olive oil and lemon…spring is here, so eat it up!

Spring onions also put me in mind of a recent visit to Mas Costa in Spanish Catalonia, near the town of Besalú.  Mas Costa is the magnificent  guest house run by former Seattle-ite James Miller and his wife Kaire, who owned much loved Seattle bakery Cafe Besalú. They sold the cafe in 2017 and moved to, you got it, Besalú, Spain, where they purchased and restored an old farmhouse or “mas”.  The amount of work they did is really astounding (check out their Instagram page if you need to feel guilty of about all the projects you never get around to). The end result is really stunning, set in between  forest and farmland, a wonderful place to hike or bike or just idle.

During our stay at Mas Costa, James and Kaire prepared a Calçotada,  a tradition of the region, more than a meal, more like a celebration of spring.  Spring onions particular to Catalonia, called calçots, are  grilled, still dirty from the garden, over very hot wood coals, then peeled of their blackened outer layers and dredged through home-made romesco sauce and devoured. Its the sort of meal where everyone eats standing up and balancing a glass of cold rosé.  They completed the meal with fresh sardines, local sausages and marinated rabbit on the grill, a big green salad and Jame’s own crusty bread.  Wonderful!

We recently had the chance to have lunch at Asador Etxebarri, a restaurant that has gotten a lot of attention from the culinary press for its grill-centric take on traditional Basque food.  I had read how great the food is but had not realized that the restaurant is so isolated or that it was in such a beautiful place.  It is located in the tiny village of Axpe (in the commune of Axtondo) in the the Basque region of the Bizkaia, which is right on the edge of the Parke Naturala Urkiolako. And when I say right on the edge, I am not kidding; the craggy peaks of the park tower over the village and create a striking view from the terrace at Etxebarri, where guests are offered a glass of champagne before the meal.

Axpe itself is too small to support a hotel (I dont know what the actual population is but it feels like about 10o), so instead we stayed at Biezko Basseria, a working farm that also welcomes guests.  The farm was only about 15 minutes walk from the restaurant but  seemed completely remote from the rest of the world.  The only sound at night was the distant ringing of cowbells on the mountain slopes above the farm.

Asador Etxebarri is located in the tiny collection of ancient stone buildings that constitutes the center of the village of Axpe. Somehow, time spent in the quietly beautiful Spanish  countryside seems an appropriate preparation for a meal at Etxebarri, where each dish seems a quietly, carefully considered expression of the land, the sea and what they offer.

I have never been one who thinks that photos and words can do justice to a wonderful meal; it needs to be experienced with friends. Suffice it to say that our lunch exceeded our expectations as well as our ability to eat even one more bite.  A very memorable meal in a stunning location.

Asador Etxebarri
Address: Plaza de San Juan, 1, 48291 Atxondo, Bizkaia, Spain
Tel: 946 58 30 42
Reservations: Imperative, accepted 3 months in advance, book very early