Pass the Patatas Bravas

The British have their chips. Americans their fries. The Belgians and the French eat their pommes frites doused in mayonnaise. In Spain, it's all about the patatas bravas (spicy potatoes). If there is one aspect of Spanish cuisine that is best known around the world, it is the custom of eating tapas. You can find these little potatoes, along with tortilla and jamon iberco in most restaurants and bars in Barcelona.

The history of tapas is controversial. Every region of Spain claims to have invented them. Undisputed is that the practice of serving small plates of food is universal throughout Spain. One possible explanation tracks the origin of the word. The lid on a pot is called a tapa in Spanish. The story goes that bartenders once served glasses of beer with a slice of bread on top. Whether this was to keep out bugs or to encourage responsible drinking is unclear. But the eating of small bites while drinking became popular. Over time these "lids" got to be pretty grand. You can imagine the taverns in competition: "I can add meat! " "Oh yeah? I can serve with spicy potatoes" and so on.

Whatever the origin, it's pretty darn good food. So today, we head out with friends in search of the ultimate tapas.

One of the great things about moving to Spain is that your friends want to visit. In fact, we will host nine visitors in our three months here. My mother has a sign at her beach house. It says "you never know how many friends you have until you have a beach house." I would add that when your beach house is in Barcelona . . . más aún.

But before we find really really good food, we must embark on a teenager's tour of Barcelona. What is that you may ask? Well, there is the Nike Store. The Magic Barcelona store. A skate shop with salespeople too cool to acknowledge you. Many stairs to jump up. Many rails to slide down. Old fountains to explore . . . Even a 300-year-old convent in Barri Gotic can be a cool spot from which to perch and people watch.

But finally, we make it to Llamber Taberna Gastronómica Barcelona. This is a sweet little tapas restaurant near the old city. The food is out of this world. And bonus, when we arrive for dinner at 8:30 pm the Americanos are not the first ones in the restaurant. Are we getting the hang of this late night eating?

And the Patatas Bravas at LLamber? Small grilled potatoes, stuffed with tomatoes and spices, topped with garlic aioli. So good. So good.