Comments on: Txori

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:47:14 +0000

Well you’ll just have to head to the great PNW for a tour of my favorite restaurants with Txori as the headliner.
I don’t believe I’ve ever been so excited about a restaurant before.

By: barbara

barbara — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:10:40 +0000

Oooh Erin this brought back memories of our time in the Basque region. I would love to visit this restaurant. It sounds fabulous.

By: Angie

Angie — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:53:12 +0000

You’ve written up such beautiful (and accurate) descriptions of the food already, that I can’t think of much more to say about it other than it’s a must eat!!!

You’re also right on about the atmosphere and the staff. On the two occasions I’ve been to Txori, I have felt right at home and well taken care of. The second time we ate there, we had the cutest waiter, who asked for my ID when I ordered a drink. I jokingly thanked him for asking (since I’m well over 21), and when he looked at my ID and saw my age, he said something to the effect of “Oh honey, you’re welcome!”

Thumbs up, all around!!

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:59:50 +0000

Marvin, You know I was going to include that in the post, I am so absent minded. Txori is pronounced, ‘Chory’. You should really check out the pintxo/tapas bars, but be careful and do your research, a lot are trendy for the sake of being trendy.

Leslie, I can’t believe that! You two always sniff out the great places. Next time you’re home we’ll have to take the three of you there. You’d love the pintxo moruno.

No, I haven’t gone. . . we’ve been on a Cafe Zingaro kick. I promise to make it my mission to visit Espresso Vivace this weekend.

I should tell everyone that I keep remembering other dishes I’ve tried and forgot to include in the post. Oops. There is a lamb and potato mousse dish that I can’t believe I forgot to include. . . notorious memory.

By: Marvin

Marvin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:25:16 +0000

Great write up! There are quite a few tapas bars in SoCal, and then only a couple of pintxos bars that I know of. I’ve never been to any of them but always wondered what the difference was between tapas and pintxos–but like you said, I guess pintxos are Basque.

Also, how the heck do you pronounce Txori?

By: Leslie

Leslie — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:58:54 +0000

Richard is a fan of a particular brand of elderflower apple juice they sell over here, and I have to say it’s not bad.

Txori sounds great, Erin. I can’t wait for my next visit home so I can give it a try. My one day trip to Barcelona yielded no tapas and so far the closest I’ve come to the real thing was at a tapas chain restaurant here in town, and while it was fun, it was obvious the cooks in the back were just churning out plate after plate with very little care involved, and even if octopus had appeared on the menu I wouldn’t have dreamed of trying it.

Now! Have you been to Espresso Vivace yet, as per my recommendation?

By: Erin

Erin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:45:59 +0000

I was just reading of Herriot’s experiences with elderflower “champagne”. Sounds delicious and dangerous! I need to investigate elderflowers further, there seem to be many possibilities there.

By: Griffin

Griffin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 09:44:40 +0000

“My former favorite is the cava de folores which is made of cava the Spanish sparkling wine, elderflower liqueur and an orange wedge. Having never had anything elderflower before I was surprised and pleased by the slightly tart flavor that was beautifully accented by the orange.”

Erin, thanks for this. We can get elderflower cordial here and usually you drink it with water and real lemonade. You have to practice to get the balance right, but it smells of flowers and summer. I’ve never had it with cava and orange before, so I’ll have to try it.

Elderflower is wild here and there are old English country recipes for the cordial and even Elderflower ‘champagne’. They are tiny creamy coloured flowers that grow in big clusters. I knew a lady who made Elderflower and she would send us out to get the clusters and bring them back to her. She would clean them, then steep them in sugar-water with slices of lemons in for days, covered with a muslin cloth in big steel bowls. Then all the flowers and lemons would be gathered up in the muslin and hung over the bowl for any flavour left to drip into the solution. The result would be bottled and put in a cold store.