Joe Ray
Food & Travel / Words & Photos
EATING
THE
MOTHERLAND
Food writer and photographer Joe Ray's gastronomic visits in Europe - the home of his ancestors - and beyond.
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Saturday, December 05, 2009
The Consecrated Onion - The Great Rioja Tapas Crawl Part III
LOGRONO, Spain
“At El Soldado de Tudelilla, get the tomato salad and the little sardine sandwich with sport peppers,*” says Artadi.
We do.
The notes for the little sandwich (a pincho) say “Why don’t we eat more sardines in the U.S.A.?”
The question floats into space as I take a bite and flag the stout-bellied barman for a tomato salad which turns out to be the star of the show.
Said barman makes the salad on the bar beneath our noses by plucking a tomato from of the cooler with the wine and the onions and cuts it into bite-sized chunks with a pocket knife. He does the same with the onion.
“This is not just any onion,” he says, “This is the white onion of Fuentes de Ebro,” which, we’ll learn, is more mild than a Vidalia.
“It is a town consecrated to the onion,” he says.
He adds a can of still faintly-pink tuna to the plate and drops a few olives over the top before giving the whole thing a shot of vinegar, a 15-count drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of gros sel.
It’s a little mountain on a plate that disappears in a heartbeat.
“We’re going to be late,” I say.
“I don’t care,” comes the response.
Perfect.
Count on about 10 euros for salad, sardines and a glass of wine or two
El Soldado de Tudelilla MAP
C/ San AgustÃn 33
Logroño, Spain
+34 941 209 624
*Truth be told, he said “guindilla.”
