Saturday, November 11, 2006

If You Visit Gazteiz

Just in case your wandering takes you to Gazteiz, here you have some advice from EITb about where to get the best pintxos in town:

Pintxos in Vitoria-Gazteiz

Pintxos are real miniature culinary masterpieces. In numerous Basque towns there are certain areas with a concentration of taverns and bars which specialise in the preparation of these gastronomic jewels.

Eating pintxos is usually accompanied by "poteo" or bar hopping, which consists of drinking wine, cider or zuritos (small glasses of beer) while standing in the company of friends and moving from one establishment to the next.

Casco Viejo

The cobbled streets of Vitoria's Old Town are not only the nightlife scenery for the young. During the day, at around midday, many of its bars offer dozens of miniature specilities on the counters, which are ideal to accompany the Rioja wine, which is a must here to enjoy what Alava has to offer. Vitoria's pintxos are prepared with products from the land, meats and vegetables. In particular, they use cold cured meats, cheese and peppers, which are the real kings of Vitoria's bars. Amongst the bars that best look after this gastronomic offer we must mention, Trafalgar, Bazter or Ondarribi.

Town center

The city's shopping and walking area. The streets invite you to walk peacefully, and for this, there is nothing better than stopping at the bars, such as El Rincón de Luis Mari in the calle Rioja with its excellent bar; the banderillas at Saburdi (Dato, 32); the variety of cold and hot pintxos at Casa Felipe (Fueros, 28); traineras, salmon rolls and pintxos of mushroom with ham and Dublin Bay prawns at El Dólar (Florida, 26) and gildas, omelettes or slices of bonito with mayonnaise and piquant red peppers at El Mesón (Ortiz de Zárate, 5).

Zona Nueva

The area surrounding Gasteiz Avenue is a business and office area. Mid morning, it is very common to see the office workers in the bars to have a wine and a pintxo before going back to work. They meet at places like Los Guaranís, popular for its octopus and calamari; Altair, specialising in bread rolls with fillings, or Alboka, popular for its hot snacks.

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