Hello (or Kaixo as the Basque people say), my name is Paige Jurkevich and I am a rising senior psychology major here at UML. Yesterday, on July 10th me and a group of my classmates went to 4 different pinxcho bars to try a variety of different dishes. I would say that I am a big foodie, and like multiple different foods however I was a little nervous for this as I did not know if I would like the food here and if I could have any of it since I am Lactose Intolerant . Our first stop on the tour was at Casa Valles (just around the corner from Lacunza – where we have our Spanish Classes 9-1, Monday through Friday) which is known to be the birth place of the Gilda, supposedly in the 1940´s.

My classmates and I also tried some other pintxos in Casa Valles including Chorizo Cocido (Cooked Chorizo) and Jamón Ibérico (Iberian Ham), which ended up being two of my favorites.

Our next stop was at La Espiga – Gran Bar (which is American cookbook author – Marti Buckley´s favorite bar) which in my opinion was my favorite stop on the tour. It was also featured in an episode of Eva Longoria´s Searching for Spain.

At La Espiga – Gran Bar, this was the place where I felt the most out of my comfort zone prior to eating. However, once the professor brought the plates of food over, it was time to conquer my fears – and I can say it paid off and I will be visiting here again before we leave. The first pintxo we had here is actually my favorite one in all of San Sebastián. The name of that first pintxo is Delicia which roughly translates to delightful. This pintxo consists of a piece of sliced bread (probably a baguette) topped with a boiled egg, mayonnaise, finely diced white onions, and chopped parsley.

Also, at La Espiga – Gran Bar, I tried something that I did not expect to like, but will for sure in the future. This pintxo was the Squid in its own Ink with White Rice. For me, I have issues with certain textures, but this was an outlier for sure. We found out it was the professor´s favorite pintxo, as well.

After finishing at La Espiga – Gran Bar, we quickly made our way to the more modern neighborhood across the river called Gros (pronounced Gross), as we were running out of time (the bars in the afternoon are open from 12-4 and then reopen later in the day for dinner) and we still had two more pintxo bars to try. Our first stop in Gros was Adamo Plaza – La Tortilleria. This place was a tiny hole in the wall, known for their Tortilla Patatas which consist of mushrooms, potatos, and a very runny egg yolk with a piece of bread. This was not my favorite, as the yolk being runny was a texture I did not like.

By the time, we reached the final Pintxo stop on the tour – most of us were stuffed and could not eat another thing. Our last stop was Ezguzki which according to the professor is the most innovative bar in the city, as the workers actually make most of the pintxos at home and then do the final prep at the bar. Only a few people got food here because then the professor announced we were getting dessert which changed everyone´s mind about being full.

Overall, this was an amazing culinary journey, which truly opened my mind to a world of dairy-free eating in a foreign country. Thank you to San Sebastián for being such an accessible city for my dietary restrictions. Here´s to many more amazing food journeys across the globe.