(gentle music)
Welcome to my world.
Two green salads.
Okay, (mumbles) sauce here.
Lamb chops, steak frites.
Shouldn't you be
doing something?
Two smoked fillet
and a pepper steak.
Come on. Make the dessert.
Chocolate tart please.
As a cook, taste and
smells are my memories.
And now I'm in
search of new ones.
So, I'm leaving New
York City and hope to
have a few epiphanies
around the world.
And I'm willing to go to
some lengths to do that.
I am looking for extremes
of emotion and experience.
I'll try anything,
I'll risk everything.
I have nothing to lose.
Everybody says that
the best food in Spain
is in San Sebastian,
it's that simple.
Situated in the north of
Spain on the Bay of Biscayne,
close to the border of France,
San Sebastian is food town.
There are more chefs, more
cooks, more food crazy people
per square mile of San
Sebastian than anywhere else
in Spain, possible the world.
But we're looking at
Basque food in particular.
The Basque are basically
people without a country,
and there culture seems to be
older than everybody else's.
So, they take their national
status very seriously.
And they also take their
food very seriously.
There are about a
gazillion eating societies
or cooking societies and
clubs, and we're about to
investigate this sort of
nether world of fiercely
nationalist Basque
cooking societies.
My guide and mentor in
all things in San Sebastian
is Luis Irizar,
who together with his
daughters, runs the.
Irizar Cooking School
in the old part of town.
Okay, I know this scene well.
Well, this is as
we know a crest.
As we'll learn, Basque
cuisine is it's own thing.
Different from Spanish,
influenced by the French,
and rooted in
what's good locally.
Fish, chief's milked
cheese, rare vegetables.
My chef, when I was in
school, used to sneak up
behind me and scream in my ear.
How do you male
cauliflower mornay?
And then he would
offer fake suggestion.
He'd say, "You put Bordelaise
in the cauliflower mornay."
"Yes?"
"Yes chef."
"No."
(laughing)
Anyway.
Now, to have our dinner and
to see over their society.
I'm looking forward to this.
Tonight, Luis is taking
me to an all male
gastronomic society,
where people cook,
talk about food, and drink.
All favorite things to do
in this part of the woods.
This is the typical
old part of the city.
And this is the society.
(laughing)
[Anthony] Luis is
sort of the godfather
of cooking around here.
Everybody in town
seems to know him.
You see, this is the
kitchen for all the members.
[Anthony] There were over 50
of these gastronomical societies
in San Sebastian, where
men, mostly amateurs
come to share passion for
food, particularly Basque food.
Tonight, Luis is making
me some very traditional.
Basque dishes.
Well, the only thing,
we're going to start now.
Yes.
Doing the bacalao.
The first thing,
doing the bacalao.
You with me. Alright.
[Anthony] In order to
eat salt cod, it has to be
soaked in ice cold
water, basically removing
a lot of the salt.
[Man] (Speaks in
foreign language).
[Anthony] There's no
question about who's in charge
in this kitchen
of the two of us.
Like this.
He's the boss.
He's the senior member
of this team, long time
member of this club.
He's the man around here.
And we're cooking
Basque food together,
so I'll be taking my
orders directly from him.
[Luis] We live it in
there, a little bit in there.
I got it.
So, we're doing a bit
of a browning garlic.
Then, it's coming out.
And as I understand it,
the fish is going in.
[Luis] You can
put on top. For you.
He beat me like a rented mule.
Since it's hot, we're going
to put the bacalao inside.
With the skin down first.
Alright, room.
Yeah, yeah, we'll be good, okay.
[Anthony] Good.
Couple of pinches,
and then with the fork,
we take it that way.
Turn it up. (Sizzling)
Okay, ready.
Pouring off the olive oil.
Not all, we live
it a little bit.
We'll wait for a little
while until this one is warm.
Cider.
Let's have a drink.
[Anthony] They drink a
lot of cider, hard cider.
Meaning, it will get you buzzed.
Now, this is classic beverage
for Basque country, yes?
This is...
Cider.
Just apple juice, nothing else.
Dry. We'll leave it here.
Ah, that's good.
Cocochas are the cheeks
of hake fish, a type of cod.
Vegged in flour and fried in
really good local olive oil.
This is a treasured dish
here in Basque country.
Cheeks, tongues, jaws.
One of those things that
Americans miss out on.
(sizzling)
We're making an emulsion
basically, using absolutely
no egg, no flour, no
binding agent other than the
gelatin which naturally
occurs in cod fish.
So, the olive oil will
thicken up with the gelatin
from the fish.
I get it now.
This is incredible.
Into this goes piparod,
which is basically peppers,
onions, and more peppers.
The classic Basque pepper sauce.
Finish with the sauce.
Now, we keep it hot in
there. Not very hot, eh.
This is really looking good.
It's pretty, it tastes good.
Alright.
Hard to beat that.
(Speaks foreign language)
with Serrano ham.
Now, is this a traditional dish?
[Luis] Very traditional.
Very traditional.
This is a Basque thing though.
The Spanish don't get
so crazy about this.
No, the Spanish,
normally, they start now.
But they're afraid to eat, ooh.
It's better for us (laughs).
[Anthony] Yeah, more for us.
(traditional music)
Here they have a saying that
translates roughly to
a little bit often.
I like this whole idea.
I've never seen anything
like this before
I'm getting worried..
These are seasonal professional
drinkers and eaters.
(Speaks in foreign
language). Hey, sit down.
[Anthony] This is
strange behavior.
But I kind of like it.
[Luis] Altogether, cheers now.
Cheers.
[Luis] Cheers.
Great food. Nice people.
Bunch of hard drinking cookies.
Out of sight.
Let's have the bacalao now.
[Anthony] Oh, look
at that, that's good.
[Luis] All this, you've
done with me (laughs).
I'm very proud of myself.
You know, it's remarkable.
For stuff that was
absolutely tough as a board,
dry and salty yesterday,
today this stuff is sweet,
and tastes fresh and tender.
(singing in foreign language)
Just when I think things are
winding down, the boys on the
other side of the room
are just getting started.
(folk singing)
This is a whole new flavor man.
(folk singing)
They sing, they
cook, they drink.
This is an evening
out with the guys.
(laughing)
(men singing)
(applause)
Unbelievable. This play rocks.
This is my first night in town.
I saw this.
They don't act like this
in New York man (laughs).
(birds squalling)
Fantastic meal last night.
Yeah.
Oh it was wonderful. (Laughing)
This morning, Luis is
taking me to the market
to check out the local goods.
The market down here.
We go to see it now.
(Speaks in foreign language).
Very important people here.
America, oh.
This is the very
important person.
He's the king. (Laughing)
I see you.
You know everybody in this town.
Yeah.
[Anthony] If you ask Luis
to define Basque territory,
he'll describe in
terms of food triangle.
It starts in Spain's best
wine region, the Rioja,
up into French Ragout
territory, and back here
to the bountiful seafood
of San Sebastian.
Basque food is sea food.
The Basque like to
describe themselves
as a nation of fishermen.
They're proud of that
part of their heritage.
And their food reflects it.
[Luis] Fresh hake.
Look at the way their
gills are displayed.
Okay, this is a
really good idea.
So you can see how red
and bright and fresh.
And there is the (speaks
in foreign language).
Oh, this comes near in New
York. This is so expensive.
It's very expensive.
Chefs in New York
would kill for this.
(chopping)
Got turbot.
They're red fish.
Red fish.
Lungfish slivers.
That's like (speaks in
foreign language) of the sea.
This is (speaks in
foreign language), you see.
Lovely.
Oh, baby.
This is very special.
It's one of the appetites
that has most dealer.
We call it percebes.
Now, you eat like this.
You put it like this.
You cut it from here.
Take it, and the meat is inside.
Oh, you look at all
this, you just wanna
start cooking right away.
(laughing)
I'm planning on doing a lot of
drinking and eating tonight.
I think I'll get some
rest this afternoon
and get myself ready.
This afternoon.
Like this you will be.
You need to train
to eat around here.
Yeah, yeah.
Professionals only.
(laughing)
This is not a place for
amateurs to drink or to eat.
Tonight, I've got a
special meal plan.
Luis and his daughter,
Verhimia are accompanying me
to Arzak, a three start
restaurant, considered by most
to be the best
restaurant in Spain.
Run by chef Juan Mari
Arzak, it's Nouveau Basque.
So, he's expanding a traditional
form as far as he can,
and doing it
really, really well.
Should I let the chef
decide what I should eat?
Probably yeah.
Let's go in. We go in.
[Anthony] Luis and
Juan Mari go back aways.
So, they know each other,
and are clearly good friends.
(laughing)
[Anthony] We are very fortunate.
We're experiencing
a rare treat here,
and that we're sitting
at the chef's table
right in the kitchen.
The man himself is here,
and his daughter, Elena,
chef to cuisine.
What do I prefer?
I would say it's the moment,
(speaks in foreign language).
[Anthony] What's different
here than eating in New York,
is that you're already
in possibly the most
critical food crazy
town in the universe.
So, to have somebody
at the top of that,
that's sort of reaching
the top of Everest,
only to find another
mountain on top of that.
Oh, look at this.
This is (speaks in
foreign language).
We make it with sheep's
milk, and with a little bit
of flour inside.
So, the ingredients
are very traditional,
but the combination and the
presentation are something else.
Elena Arzak explains
all the dishes for us.
This is crayfish with eggplant.
It's cooked with garlic
and parsley (mumbles).
This is a sea bass,
it's a local fish.
And the dark sauce, we mix
with olive oil, it's like hot.
(sizzling)
This is wylda, that is
(speaks in foreign language).
Then, you have a garnish
wish seasonal vegetables.
Spectacular. And your English
is beautiful by the way.
No, it's very bad.
No, it's very, very good.
There are a rare breed
of chefs in the world,
who lay at wake at night,
staring at the ceiling
thinking, would
sheep's milk yogurt
go well with (speaks
in foreign language)?
Could I get away with that?
What will it taste like?
What would they look like?
What would they smell like?
What would it go with?
I have never in my life
really thought like that.
I work from a single ingredient.
What do I do with the tuna?
It's the difference
between greatness
and journeyman professional.
This poached egg appetizer
is a good example
how Arzak elevated
traditional basque ingredients
into new and spectacular dishes.
This is before cooking.
It's an egg yoke.
It's a very fresh whole egg.
White truffle oil, goose fat.
First, it sits up in
the fridge for a day,
then it's poached in this bad,
and then I guess the bag
is very delicately removed.
And then, it's hopped
with either caviar
or mushroom in this.
In this case, a mushroom
garnish with chorizo puree.
Now, what flight of
fancy was, is sort of a
religious epiphany.
I see an egg.
So, it was the egg.
It started with egg.
Doesn't everything.
(fast whisking)
It's extraordinarily good
food, wildly creative.
Is it art?
We could argue
about that all day.
But it is craft performed
at its highest level.
And it's done so with
quite style and grace.
Are they two old lions or what?
On my last night in
town, Luis' daughters
invite me and some
friends out for tapas.
Hello.
Let me introduce you to our
sister Vissy, she's the chef.
She's the manager of the school.
Please to meet you.
This is a friend of ours, Ethia.
She's also coming with us.
We've seen what the boys
do on their night out.
Let's see what the women do.
I'm in trouble, I
know I'm in trouble.
Their idea of fun is to
follow another glorious.
Basque tradition.
Bouncing around from bar
to bar, eating as they,
a little bit often.
Well, this is Ganbara.
Oh, it looks good.
First thing.
Tapas is the name we gave
to this sort of mini food.
But in the Basque country,
we call it pinchers.
This is our first
stop, called Ganbara.
Their specialty is wild
ceps, wild mushrooms.
(sizzling)
These ceps grow around
the area, in the country,
and the mountains
around San Sebastian.
And a lot of people
go out cep hunting.
Then you have to get up
very, very early in the morning
to find the best ceps
in the best places.
Wild ceps.
[Anthony] Oh, look at that.
And we have a raw
egg yoke in the middle.
So, you can either
eat just the ceps,
or you can dip it
into the egg yoke.
I need privacy for this.
Oh, wow.
Now, what do we have here?
That's tuna.
Here we have
marinated anchovies.
White anchovies, I love these.
Oh, man, this looks so good.
(Speaks in foreign
language), with anchovy also?
Uh hmm.
Smoked salmon.
[Woman] Salmon.
[Anthony] (Speaks in
foreign language), octopus.
[Woman] Octopus.
[Anthony] What is this?
[Woman] White asparagus.
Yes.
How could you look at
this without going insane?
Where does one begin?
If you eat that, that
means you might not
later be able to eat that.
It's just incredible.
Now, we're going to another one.
Sounds good to me.
I've got a whole new posse.
It's easy to be a little
dazzled by it all.
It looks like a
helluva lot of food,
but you don't have
to eat it all.
You're here to get
what's particularly good
at this one joint,
and then move on.
Now, we're going
to the Astelena.
Here, they do what we call the
(speaks in foreign language).
Which can be translated as
fishcake and it's delicious.
As you can see, there are
no pinchers on the counter.
They all have to order
from the kitchen.
They're all cooked.
So, fishcake, and cod fish
cooked with onions and peppers.
That's what we're here
for. And this stuff.
I enjoy this whole
style of eating.
You know, bouncing around,
drinking, with lots of women,
going from bar to bar.
Muscles.
Eating a little bit,
drinking a little bit.
Oh, look at this.
I'm a short attention span guy.
So, this whole idea
of going right in,
grabbing what you
want, and moving on,
really appeals to me.
And it's just a lot of fun.
This is (speaks in
foreign language).
[Anthony] Of,
this is the famous,
best fishcake in town.
Okay, what's in here?
It's so good.
I'm afraid this is a secret.
Okay, when I stumble home
from the bar in New York,
I don't see this.
Such a beautiful city.
(percussive music)
The last place of the
evening is sort of a nouveau,
high end tapas place.
They've moved away
from the traditional
(speaks in foreign language),
and dressed it up a little.
They use squeeze bottles here.
(percussive music)
This is so sexy.
That's ravioli stuck with
(speaks in foreign language),
or black pudding.
How's Anthony enjoying it?
That's for me.
Nobody touches that.
(laughing)
This is not traditional
(speaks in foreign language).
Raviolis with blood
sausage inside.
I must say, one of the
things I love most in life
is (speaks in foreign language).
And I hate myself for
it, because when I think
of the whole ducks and gooses.
It's an equation.
Is all of that torment
and cruelty worth it?
You know, a fur coat,
it's not worth it.
For the joy of hunting,
it's not worth it.
But for (speaks in foreign
language), that's ole man.
I think this is the last.
I wanna thank one,
two, three, four,
five very dangerous ladies.
Come on, everybody cheers.
(glasses clanking)
This is a toast for all America,
and we hope you come
here to our country
and have a very good time.
(laughing)
(jazz music)
Luis and I have one last
mission here in San Sebastian.
Okay, where are we going now?
Well, to drink
chocolate with churros.
We go.
We go for chocolate here.
[Anthony] Chocolate and churros.
It's the traditional morning
chow in San Sebastian.
Oh, that looks good.
[Anthony] Oh, this is the plan.
This is kind of like a
flipper in New England.
The Italians make
something kind of like it.
Like a (speaks in foreign
language), fried batter.
In this case, drenched in sugar,
dipped in a really
good hot chocolate.
Nothing like a serious sort
of grease and sugar rush
first thing in the morning,
jack with the chocolate.
This is the breakfast
of champions.
(laughing)
I don't know if it's a
traditional hangover cure,
but it's working in my case.
You like some more chocolate?
No, I'm good, thank you.
You have enough?
Perfect.
I imagine this would warm you
up after riding some tubes.
Do you surf?
Yeah.
You surf?
No, no, no.
There are a few young ones, oh.
They do fantastic, it's lovely.
(waves crashing)
[Anthony] San Sebastian is
a beautiful, beautiful town.
It's a city that makes
sense to me somehow.
And I think what I'll take
away from the experience
is just as much the food
as the attitude here.
The mania for food.
The fact that I seem
to have stumbled onto
an entire subculture,
a secret society,
all centered around
eating, cooking,
and talking about
eating and cooking.
My new friend Luis is
kind enough to see me off
at the station.
Behave yourself, not too
much eating and drinking.
(laughing)
(Speaks in foreign
language), don't you worry.
Yeah.
We very always...
You're a professional (laughs).
Yes.
Bye, bye.
Bye.
I hate saying goodbye to him.
A nice man who loves food,
knows it well, cooks it well.
I'm sorry to go.
(techno music)
(groove music)
