In Basque Country, tapas are referred to as pintxos, and the hours between lunch and dinner are dedicated to the sport. It’s customary to order a small bite and drink at each bar, consume them jollily on the premise, and then move on to the next joint. Grazing is the name of the game, and one should feel properly full and slightly tipsy by the end of the night.
Whereas the bars in Barcelona and Madrid kept their tapas behind glass cases along the bar, in San Sebastian, the pintxos were beautifully laid out for all to see, covet, and drool over. The Astronomer and I dedicated one evening to exploring the city’s pintxos scene. We had a list of buzzed-about places in hand, but in the end, we trusted our eyes and noses to lead us in the tastiest direction.
Our first stop on the San Sebastian pintxos crawl was Bar Zeruko. We hadn’t planned on dropping in here, but the extensive collection of colorful and unique pintxos on display proved impossible to resist. The Astronomer and I ordered two glasses of cava and tucked into a few choice morsels. We tried to limit ourselves to one dish apiece, but ended up greedily hoarding more.
Our first bite was an egg-on-egg extravaganza consisting of fluorescent caviar paired simply and successfully with a slice of hard-boiled egg.
