tapas in spain (region, season, types of tapas to eat)

Tapas are original from southern spain (Sevilla), but it is concieved to just try a bit of a dish. Indeed, the spanish gastronomy is excellent and not limited to tapas and pintxos. The gastronomy varies from region to region, but all the regions have great food. IMO I love going to a mesón in Castilla y León, but Catalunya also has great gastronomy. You won't be disappointed wherever you go.

Each part of the country has tapas unique to its location, so there really is no “best.” If you go to Burgos, skip the mejillas (cow cheeks).

There is no best, but for tourist league tables probably at least two of the places you'd prefer to skip would be in the top five. Outside them, Logroño is often named as a tapas centre. But it does depend what you mean by tapas - Murcia (city, not province or region) rates quite high for foodies, but it's not a free tapas place like Almeria, and Murcia is a long way off many foreign tourist trails and doesn't have the "wow" sights of Andalucia.

If you go to Burgos, skip the mejillas (cow cheeks).

Why? Is there something particular about the ox cheeks in Burgos or ox cheeks in general?

Ox cheeks are superb and I've sampled many in Spain (you can find them everywhere). They used to be cheap as anything here but then they fell victim to celebrity chef endorsement and their prices have gone up. Equally as good are pigs cheeks (particularly the Spanish black pigs) and cod cheeks.

I am going to second Nick's recommendation of Logroño, and his inquiry about what is a tapa.

While there are bars in Logroño that will give you a free morsel, all the “tapa” bars in the center are paying. And they are general refered to as pinchos/pintxos here.

Several things that Logroño has to recomend it are: concentration of bars, prices, and of course the wine.
There are two main streets with pintxo bars, Laurel and San Juan. Personally I prefer San Juan. It is more of a local neighborhood. From the 20th to the 23 they have a small fiesta for the Night of San Juan. Laurel is more touristy, with more tourists, and businessmen taking their clients out, and it is where people go in groups to celebrate. Either way though you will be able to get good pintxos.

In general Logroño is cheaper than the other cities in Spain. My coworkers from Pamplona always comment on how much cheaper the pintxos and wine are here.

About the mejillas that Jaime mentioned, I have never heard of them here, at least called that for a pintxo. There are two different cow head parts that they could be. One is carrilleras, the other would be morros. Carrilleras are the muscles on the side of the jaws. There are cow and pig carrilleras and they are delicious. This bar serves them as a tapa, but they are usually served as a main dish. Cooked right they are super tender. Morros on the other hand I would also skip.

One of the first pintxos I ever had here was a slice of morcilla on a piece of bread with a roasted red pepper over it, served with a crianza. It is still a favorite. Some places serve it with a fried quail egg on it. Here is a bar that serves both morcilla and grilled pig morro.

And one last extra. We have two ice cream shops owned by Fernando Saenz, who just won the National Gastronomy Award as an ice cream maker. He works with a lot of Michelin chefs, and his shop Della Sera has been rank #2 in Spain. (personal favorite is the roasted pineapple ice cream)

A last question, you don't say when you are coming. Anytime is a good time, but August is going to me a bit slow for example, but September will be hopping with San Mateos and the wine harvest.

JC, To me, the cheeks were just nasty. I’m sure they are an acquired taste and texture, but I’ll skip them. You can have my share.

JC, To me, the cheeks were just nasty. I’m sure they are an acquired taste and texture, but I’ll skip them. You can have my share.

Lol, I'll take your share! Cooked well they are meltingly tender with a big beefy taste, no different than any other tough beef cut although I will concede that they're a bit more gelatinous in a similar vein to oxtail. I'm not a great offal eater, I don't like liver, kidney or tripe but some of my favourite revelations have been fried ducks hearts in Sofia and fried lambs tongues in a restaurant local to me, two dishes that I ummed and aahed about but glad that I took the plunge.

If you like lamb, the best pintxo is Embuchado. It is made from the lambs tripe. The tripe is dried and rolled up in to a ball (it looks like a baseball without the cover) then it is cut in to half dollar sized slice and grilled. They are crispy, salty and taste very lamby. Also go well with a crianza wine.

Nick, dlindstrom and others. Thank you for your suggestions. Here are some responses.....

I plan to visit in june/july or september 2018.
By tapas i mean small nibbles to much on and also while having some drinks.

As i have been to the major cities, i was going to plan on visiting other towns primarily for tapas.

"In Seville, Spain, young chefs are creating the next generation of tapas"
Washington Post, June 7

Because every country I went to seemed to be offering some version of tapas or small plates, I decided to revisit the original and classic tapas of Spain and take stock of their evolution. I heard that, in Seville, young chefs were taking over ancient tapas bars and reinventing the recipes. Suddenly, “nouvelle tapas” — my term — was hip.

“Andalusia is the birthplace of tapas,” said Nacho Dargallo, chef and co-owner of El Disparate with his wife, Sandra Rodríguez. “But there’s been a tremendous evolution.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/in-seville-spain-young-chefs-are-creating-the-next-generation-of-tapas/2018/06/06/bebb2170-64fa-11e8-99d2-0d678ec08c2f_story.html

I am just today winding up a fine 2-week visit to Turkey, and in the morning will be flying on to Spain. In about 10 days, I will be meeting Dave Lindstrom in Logroño, where he has invited me to sample the San Juan pintxos in person, which will no doubt be a culinary joy! And, I must say I am a lover of lamb.

Looks tasty Bill. The vine branch is something I have seen before.

Here you can see the embuchados all balled up before they are sliced and grilled. They do have a final appearance very similar to the zarajo.

Zarajo go well with a beer, though I recommend you try them with a glass of rough, strong red wine

There are a lot of good craft brews coming out of Catalona, but the choice is a Rioja.