A fuego negro, sleek and streamlined, all decked out in black and red and decidedly modern. A much newer player on the San Sebastian pintxos scene, the chefs at a fuego negro have taken the decades of pintxo tradition and fused it with modern Spanish gastronomy and a great sense of humor to create a bar where food, music , and graffiti, are inseparable. You can take a seat before 8pm and enjoy a great selection of more traditional pintxos, but it's after that time that the magic really kicks in.
Elegant gildas.
Our first flirt with the fun ahead were martini olives. Green olives stuffed with a dry vermouth jelly and shavings of lemon peel balanced over an icy shot of vodka.
The Mckobe; a mini burger of medium rare seared Kobe beef served in a tomato sauce bun with banana chips was the second mcburger we had seen in Spain and again put shame to anything on the original Mcmenu, and in its little takeaway box it's as cute as a button.
Coffee and cookies. This little espresso cup with its frothy filling and crispy cookies is not an end of meal finisher as might be expected from first glance. The foamy coffee is infused with jamon and the cookies are made from veal sweetbreads. It's incredibly rich and the two cookies and espresso are just the right size.
A smoked duck and blood plum salad arrives in a clear plastic ball with the instructions to give it a little shake before serving. Now is not the time to be a cheffy type and not shake so hard as to not damage the leaves. As you shake a candy ball filled with blood plum dressing shatters resulting in a sudden dramatic dressing of the salad. If you go with the gentle shake you may wonder what all the fuss is over this plain salad and then you might wonder what this red paint ball like thing is in the salad and then it may explode in your hand as your looking at it spraying you and the floor and your lovely new Armani jeans in blood plum and then you'll have to order another one just to do it right..........just saying.
Pork with vanilla and lemon results in a fat wedge of grilled pork loin atop lemon scented crushed potato and a veil of vanilla foam.
Wild chicken came as slices of delicately poached chicken with red shiso and corn pudding and a few wisps of peppery nigella sprouts.
Dove, Shot, Pum! was one of my favorites .. maybe for the humorous graphic reality of it.
A single breast of perfectly cooked wild dove sitting on a quenelle of lemon infused potato puree, blood plum sprayed across the plate emanating from a single silver pellet gently embedded in the breast while a licorice rice paper puff of smoke denotes impact with a resounding PUM!! And it tastes good too.
An egg with jamon and wild mushrooms. The egg is a puffed foamy version of its former self complete with a soft boiled foamy yolk interior. With its companions of sauteed jamon cubes and mushrooms and the crunch of a few bread crumbs it's a classic taste.
Roast beef. Tiny cubes of sous vide beef so gently cooked as to not look cooked at all with a few dabs of seeded mustard sitting on a paprika wafer.
The salmorejo cherry on crumbs comes as a single cherry tomato red candy shell filled with the rich tomato soup that is salmorejo. You can crack it open and mix it with the herby toasted breadcrumbs or just pop it whole into your mouth and suddenly flood your taste buds as it shatters.
One of the last things we tried was just a plate of cherry tomato, garlic and anchovy. The tomato's were bursting ripe the garlic was raw but mellow, marinated in olive oil and the anchovies were of the usual Spanish brilliance. It was appreciation of beautiful produce.
Regalize it!! There's a picture of a marijuana leaf next to the title of this sweet. The little pot comes out and there's another leaf on the top of the glass. The glass is layered with a chocolate pudding an a chocolate soil as well as so thin fibrous strands of a plant. Of course the leaf on the top of the glass is made from candy and the thin plant strands are licorice root. Regaliz being Spanish for licorice it's a nice play on words and looks and it still tastes great.
Not only can you feed your belly but you can get yourself some ear, eye and mind candy with the book and CD combinations also for sale. Containing recipes, cartoons and music matched to the pintxos they're pretty awesome.
a feugo negro is the kinda place I wish we had just around the corner at home, it's just one more reason San Sebastian is standing on the top of the culinary world and one more reason I didn't want to leave.
a feugo negroC/ 31 De Agosto / Abuztuaren 31-KO Kalea, 31
20003 Donostia-San Sebastian, España
650 135 373
