I had so many great meals on our wonderful recent tour through España but this was the definitive…read morebest, and one that seared itself into my heart and memory forever. A visit to this 100+ year old seaside legend is an absolute must if you are ever lucky enough to visit the great city of Valéncia. Open for lunch only, the massive establishment surely nonetheless does pound for pound better daily business than most any other restaurant on the planet, and for damn good reason. The overall experience is surely amongst the most perfect distillation of the synchronicity of the singularity of a place and it's geography, history and culture playing out so fully on the plate, in both presentation and flavor. I was told by numerous Spaniards not to get Paella anywhere but in it's home city, and that this in turn is the best place in the city to get it, and boy am I glad we took their advice.
Arriving around 2pm on a Friday, we were admonished for showing up without a reservation and further hectored that we should consider ourselves lucky we were able to be seated at all. We humbly and gratefully responded that we understood and were led through a progression of bright, airy, massive rooms to a rare two top table surrounded by much larger parties of 6 , 10 and more. As further penance we were informed that san's reservation and required prior notice, we would not have the opportunity to try the most legendary namesake Paella València, which in addition to heaps of seafood features a varied bounty of traditional local delicacies from all across the animal kingdom including snails and rabbit. We would be restricted to only the all seafood varieties, our eyes immediately drifting down to the lobster focused options, we were advised by our waiter to go with the local spiny lobster. It was served with maximum flourish, in a massive steel pan, the full lobsters commingling with heaps of perfectly cooked slippery rings of squid and fat nubs of delectably buttery shrimp searing into the deeply flavorful rice, the edges of which charred aggressively and deliciously on the edges of the pan. The massive circumference of the pan belies its shallowness which results in the intense high heat cooking method that results in the intense fusion of the flavors into, as well as the caramelization effect on the rice. While this certainly seemed to be a case of something you would want to eat as immediately as possible for peak enjoyment, I was delighted to discover that the leftovers were equally delicious hours later on the fast train to Madrid, having if anything only increased in deliciousness while sopping up all the juices and marinating in itself, in the manner of all the worlds best left overs.
As singularly delicious and memorable as the paella was, I would have to say I was even more blown away by the first dish of the meal, namely a simple yet magnificent preparation of calamari, prepared in the traditional Valèncian style. One full squid, cut into rings with the legs at the top and rearranged into it's natural shape alongside with a assortment of sauces including a mayo and one made of it's own black ink, it was perfectly taught and chewy yet not the least bit rubbery, perfectly lightly fried yet not the least bit greasy (I'm pretty convinced Spaniards might be the mist skilled friers on the planet) and deeply savory and delicious in every way, it was nothing short of the best calamari I've ever had. Considering I grew up on Long Island and have lived in NYC for my entire adult life, I have surely had a very calamari heavy life so take that statement for what it is.
I washed the delicious seafood meal down with an Aperol Spritz, the sole cocktail option, followed by a delicious local red. As you would expect from an over 100 year old legend, the staff are as seasoned and professional as you could imagine, and the overall vibe and spirit of the place is magical. The only way the experience would have been more iconic would have been, in addition to preordering the full Valencia style, capping off the meal with a dip in the blue Mediterranean waters in the wide beach across the street, but that hopefully will be saved for my next visit, which I very much hope to get the chance to make.