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Txoko, Basque cuisine with a local touch
Txoko, the newest Spanish restaurant in town, plays around with flavors but stays true to Basque gastronomy.
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Grilled Australian wagyu beef tenderloin (Courtesy of Txoko/-)
M
aking the ordinary extraordinary, staying faithful to the Gilda and other Basque gastronomic treats while playing around a bit with local spices, appear to be the hallmark of Txoko, the newest Spanish restaurant in town.
That is, if the 11-course degustation menu executive chef Oskar Urzelai recently presented to invited journalists is any indication of the rest of the menu items, 80 percent of which are, according to the chef, Basque.
The food journey started with four pieces of red, orange, green and beige cylindrical pieces of butter. The colors resulted from a blend of beetroot, tomato concasse, spinach and mushroom, respectively.
The colorful butters were a prelude to special surprises, from ice cream in the middle of a degustation menu and a rice dish before dessert, after nine extra-large tapas.
The Gilda, originally from San Sebastian, is the most famous, time-honored pintxo (bite-sized appetizer or tapa) and is quintessentially Basque.
This classic arrangement of pickled green olive, salt-cured anchovy and pickled green chili peppers skewered on a toothpick has to be, so the story goes, verde (green), salado (salty) and a little bit picante (piquant) like Gilda, the risqué, witty and spicy femme fatale character played by Rita Hayworth in the American 1946 film noir of the same title.
