Delicious Meal at The Standard Grill (under the High Line)

Main dining room

We loved our dinner last week at The Standard Grill at 846 Washington Street under the High Line. They’ve hired chef Dan Silverman and the food was wonderful. The  place was heaving with people and incredibly noisy but we feasted on Portugese sardines, pasta with loads of fresh peas and mint and an unforgettable trout stuffed with currants and pine nuts.  Am hoping to go back really soon. Plus, the floor in the main dining room is made of  480,000 pennies.

Organ Fest in Taiwan

This is a great piece from a friend who lived in Taiwan:

Chicken Musings

By Matthew Fulco

If you aren’t a vegetarian, chicken is a safe choice for many occasions.  It doesn’t have a strong taste.  It can be easily prepared many ways.  And it is not expensive. 

In most of its fast food incarnations, chicken is also a more palatable option than beef.  A Big Mac just sinks under the weight of two gristly patties, sopping cheese slices, and rivers of sauce.  By comparison, a McChicken sandwich – fried chicken plus lettuce and mayo – seems like a light snack. 

Of course, in the U.S. eating chicken means a chicken breast, thighs, legs and wings.  Or some mélange of those parts (we hope) processed into a chicken patty.  Chinese restaurants catering to American taste buds may even explicitly state on the menu that certain chicken dishes are “all white meat.” 

The assumption is Americans are more concerned with perceived health benefits than taste.  After all, dark meat contains more fat and is thus more flavorful.  The extra fat also makes it better suited to the high temperatures of searing Chinese woks.  In these conditions, white meat can easily dry out. 

I learned all this during my three years in Taiwan, where the people enjoy making the most out of their chickens.  By this, I mean not discarding useful organs, limbs and such. 

If you think about it, there is nothing stopping us from creating less waste, except cultural norms.  The idea of eating chicken feet does not appeal to most Americans.  First, there comes to mind the issue of cleanliness.  Then there is the idea of munching on little bones and skin, listening to joints crack between our teeth. 

Chicken feet are actually fairly innocuous.  Imagine chewing on softened chicken bones and skin, steamed in a black bean sauce, with little succulent meat to be had for your efforts. 

For a while in Taiwan, I used to order chicken feet any time I went out with my Taiwanese colleagues.  I wanted to show them I was open-minded and brave.  After all, they expected most foreigners to squirm at the sight of a fish served whole, head and all.  No organic salmon filets to be found.  Never mind volunteering to eat chicken feet. 

Then one evening at a local night market I noticed chicken feet for sale.  They looked far less appetizing than what I had eaten in restaurants.  Black as tar, long nails still intact, and stacked in a steaming vat.  Flanked by dark purple pig’s blood cakes to the left and miscellaneous internal organs to the right.  
I could make out what looked like a skewer of five plump chicken hearts dripping with oil.  I imagined they could have been beating as one if they hadn’t been impaled. 

Sitting in a pit of grease alongside a collection of blood and guts was one thing.  But the main problem was the nails.  The restaurants had had the courtesy to remove them.  But here they were.  I tried to imagine them pricking my gums as I munched on a foot.  It just wasn’t appealing. 

So ended my brief flirtation with chicken feet.  Henceforth, I managed to mostly avoid them. 

Yet the nature of Chinese cooking can make it hard to identify the origins of certain foods.  Heavy, dark sauces can obscure the color and flavor of meat.  Food also plays a central role in Chinese culture.  Openly refusing a dish can embarrass your host, and perhaps even hurt the person’s feelings. 

With that in mind, I stumbled upon a newly edible part of the chicken entirely. 

I owe this culinary discovery to a fairly unassuming software engineer named David, who was my student for six months in mid-2005. 

Taiwanese students often come straight to class after work.  With little time to eat a proper dinner, they occasionally grab snacks from a nearby night market. 

David had come to class that evening with a paper bag of oily night market treats.  In fact, grease had drenched the bag and was seeping slowly onto the desk where it lay.  As the oil began to trickle onto the floor, David offered me an enormous fried squid tentacle.  He probably knew I loved calamari.  I devoured the lukewarm tentacle without a second thought and thanked him. 

But the tentacle was fairly straight ahead compared to the next offering.   With an insipid expression on his face, he fished into the bag and pulled out a misshapen brownish blob on a stick.  Violet veins coursed through the flesh. He offered it to me gingerly, adding, “It’s really delicious.” 

Considering the look on his face, I had my doubts.  But the entire class was staring at me expectantly.  I figured the blob was likely an organ of some kind, but I couldn’t be sure which one.  A kidney wouldn’t be so bad.  Not only high in iron, but I had eaten a few accidentally over the Chinese New Year.  

Rather than proceed cautiously, I pushed the whole chunk of flesh into my mouth.  It tasted like oily, soy-based sauce.   The meat was fatty but lacking in distinctive flavor.  I swallowed and grabbed a cup of lukewarm tea from the desk.

The haste in my movements provoked an eruption of laughter. 

I looked from David to the rest of the students and back. 

“Ok, so what was it?” I asked evenly. 

15 seconds of silence. 

David then smiled and matter-of-factly stated, “chicken butt.”

“What do you mean, ‘butt?’ I pressed.  Certainly not a chicken rump roast. 

But the word was beyond the scope of his English vocabulary.  To be fair, I would venture to say within Taiwan, only those in the medical profession are familiar with the term. 

What I had eaten was a chicken sphincter, a popular night market snack. 

Having dined upon the chicken’s lower limbs and excretory system, I had come a long way from organic boneless, skinless breast meat. 

The latter may be healthier in terms of fat content, but you have to give the Taiwanese credit for their frugality. 

As far as cleanliness goes, night market food never once disagreed with me. 

In fact, it was after my sole visit to KFC in Taiwan that I got the worst stomach virus of my adult years. 

A fajita wrap of breast meat with Cajun sauce was the culprit. 

Go figure. 

 

 

 

 

Rosa’s Restaurant Advice for Vienna

Rosa is from Vienna and sent a list of no-frills places with traditional cooking. Many typical restaurants close on weekends so she made me a list of restaurants that are open on Sundays.

Cafe Central
Herrengasse 17

This is one of the famous cafes. It’s very old-fashioned and has a kind of Orientalist architecture. It’s a light and roomy place, very warm in the evenings.

Rebhuhn Berggasse 24 – very nice authentic Austrian food. Not as central as others on this list.

Ubl Pressegasse 26, in the 4th district. It is very basic, but very good Austrian food and a non smoking section. Frommer’s calls it a “well-kept secret.”

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/vienna/D55536.html

I do think all the guidebook writers should be banned from using such tired language. Also, if it’s in Frommer’s, by definition, it is no longer a secret.

Zu den 3 Hacken in Singerstraße 28. Right in the center and near St Stephen’s. Turns out this is also in Frommer’s.
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/vienna/D45883.html

2 Lieserln Rosa says this “has changed. Since there are no more “sisters” cooking and serving and no more waiters in fur coats from the shop on the other side of the street, it´s lost a lot of charm. “
http://www.2lieserln.at/

For Chinese food in the center of town, there is the Golden Times Chinese restaurant which is very upscale and innovative. (Spicey tofu tasting menu, calamari drizzled with mango sauce, kobe beef with broccoli)

Outside of town, there are many restaurants with Vineyards. Tulbingerkogel is in the Michelin guide and has a hotel. It’s surrounded by woods so is a good place to walk. The views are excellent. About a 30 minute drive from the center of the city. Filled with locals and their big dogs.

Report from Venice

My mother recently spent a week in Venice and spent some time trying out restaurants. Here is what she has to say:

The word is that there is a lot of bad food around in Venice, so, before going, I compiled a list of recommended places from reasonably reliable sources. When I arrived, I discovered that the difficult part is working out where these places are and how to get to them. General advice: make sure you have a map with a street index and then a little Streetwise Venice to carry around with you.

We mainly ate lunch out and so didn’t need to book anywhere. All were largely empty at lunch (12.30 to 2 usual opening time). Essential to book for the evening when the restaurants are full, often with tourists.

DA FIORE. S. Polo 2273. Tel 041 721 308 Reputed to be best fish restaurant in Venice, expensive but not absolutely the most expensive. We were invited so I have no idea of the cost.

IL REFOLO Pizzeria con Cucina, Campo S. Giacomo del l’Orio, Santa Croce 1459. Tel 041 524 00 16. Closed all day Monday and Tuesday lunch. Closed December and January. A really wonderful place owned by the Da Fiori son. Excellent pizzas with fresh seasonal ingredients (artichokes in Spring, porcini and pumpkin in the fall). Other things look tempting too. Outdoor tables behind the church by a canal. No pizza in the winter. Pizzas 10-14 euros. Vaporetto stop. S Stae.

VECIO FRITOLIN, Calle della Regina (Rialto) 2262. Tel (0) 41 52 22 881. Closed Monday. Small sober classic Italian looking place with air conditioning. Known for fritto misto. Bread made in house. We shared one pleasant fritto misto and half a liter of house white total 37.50 euros. No outdoor tables. Just north of fish market so Vaporetto S. Stae or Rialto.

CORTE SCONTA Calle del Pestrin No 3886. Tel 041 522 7024. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Our favorite – an all fish restaurant with a pretty vine covered yard. We were there for lunch so don’t know about mosquitoes (see La Bitta below). Note on table says that primi (pastas etc) are 16 euros and secondi are 18-25. Deserts 7. But the waiter tells you what is on for the day – you don’t see a menu until the desert. We had an excellent seafood pasta, then excellent fritto misto and soft shell crabs, and zabaglione. There are other Pestrini streets. This is near Arsenale so Vaporetto is Arsenale

VINI DA GIGIO, Fond. d. S. Felice (Their card gives another address but this is where they are) Tel 041 52 85 140. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Air conditioning.
Cucina de Tradizione and a serious wine list. Meat and fish. Another good place. We had a delicious antipasto of sardines in vinegar, pine nuts and raisins, a pasta and a liver with onions. Primi (pastas etc) 12-15 euros. Secondi 18-20 euros. No outdoor tables.Air conditioned. A great thing about this place is it is easy to find, From Ca’Doro Vaporetto and Museum turn left along Strada Nuovo, cross one bridge and you’ll see it up Fond d. S. Felice to the right – so it doesn’t require a lot of walking from exhausted sight-seers.

OSTERIA ENOTECA SAN MARCO, Frezzeria – San Marco 1610. Tel 041 5285242
A sophisticated wine bar with good food, surprisingly right near St Marks and the Correr Museum. Air conditioned. Quite expensive – few wines by the glass. Antipasti 16-18 euros, primi 16-20, secondi 25 – 30. No outdoor tables. Vaporetto S. Marco quite close and easy.

LA BITTA Lunga San Barnaba, Tel 041 52 30 531.
No fish. Meat only. Closed Sunday. No lunch any day and no cards. Opens at 6.30 pm. There is a small yard at the back and on the evening we were there, we were all passing around the essential mosquito spray provided, on request, by the waitress. We had one antipasto, a beautifully done Caprese salad with mozzarela, cherry tomatoes and lambs lettuce. Then we each had liver with onions that came with runny polenta. Fine, nothing special. The menu wasn’t particularly Italian except for our choices. Primi 10-14 euros. Secondi 20-25 euros. The street is a quick straight line from Vaporetto and museum Ca’ Rezzonico. There are several other promising looking little places on this street.

OSTARIA AI 4 FERI, Calle Lunga S. Barnaba. Tel. 041 520 6978
Right before La Bitta. Closed Sunday. Recommended as small, unpretentious, friendly, neighbourhood place. We had only a vegetable antipasto, one spaghetti vongole (9 euros) and a side salad. With half a liter of white this came to 27 euros. Pastas generally 15 and fish 15/16. Perfectly decent and cheap. No outdoor tables. Quick straight line from Vaporetto and museum Ca’ Rezzonico.

RISTOTECA ONIGA, Campo San Barnaba. Tel 0415224410
No recommendations, we went here just because it was next to our apartment, open on Sunday and had shaded tables on the square. Closed Tuesday. We had one stuffed vegetable antipasto and two seafood pastas. Nothing special but perfectly fine. With Pellegrino and 3/4 liter of wine 50 euros. In the square S. Barnaba close to Bitta and 4 Freri. Vaporetto Rezzonico.

OSTARIA DA ROBIA, Fondamenta della Misericordia 2553. Tel 041 5244379.
Closed Monday. This was recommended by more people than anywhere else – perhaps partly because of moderate price and certainly because of quiet outdoor tables on a canal. We had good cuttlefish and ink with a runny polenta, a disappointing pasta with duck ragu. Sweet wine with the usual bad Venetian cookies to dip. Primi around 12 euros. Secondi around 15 euros. Our neighbours were eating bargain main dish salads: one with tuna fish, the other with cheese I think. Salads included grated carrots and corn. This is about a 20 minute but straightforward walk from museum and Vaporetto Ca d’Oro. Up Fnd S Felice and along Misericordia (you pass Vini di Gigio).

OSTERIA PONTE DEL DIAVOLO. Tel 041 730 401. TORCELLO Island where we went to see the mosaics. We had two excellent seafood pastas (20 each) at the most luxurious of the three Torcello eateries, in a shaded garden. With half a liter of white, and warm rolls (better than most Ventian bread) total was 58 euros. Open for lunch only.

RISTORANTE RIVIERA, Tel 041 522 7621 Zaterre on the Giudecca Canal at the far end from St Marcos and Grand Canal.

This was recommended but we only looked, didn’t have time to eat. Looked comfortable with outdoor tables overlooking Giudecca canal. Secondi 18 to 24 euros.

Upper West Side

Ever since Oppenheimer Meats shut a few weeks ago, I have been worrying about what will close next. Oppenheimer’s had been on the UWS since 1964 and so was one of the few places left from my childhood. Zagats refers to the slices of bologna that they used to give children and I still remember how those tasted as well as the head cheese my mother would buy for our lunches until we figured out what it was and refused to eat it. Oppenheimer’s was owned by a man my mother used to call “Horrible Harry” as he was so bad tempered. He had an extremely cavalier attitude to delivery as I remember and one time let her down when she was having a dinner party. My mother would get so angry that she would swear she would never go in again and then have to send in me or my sister when she relented and decided she wanted to buy something from him. Eventually Harry sold the shop and it was taken over by Robert who sold all kinds of upmarket meat. The grass-fed beef was excellent and so was the lamb and the D’artagnan chicken. When they started to sell fish a couple of years ago, I was ready to dump Citarella. Now I have to go back. Robert said he wasn’t making enough money to justify carrying on. Fresh Direct and eating out more or less killed his business.

My heart breaks every day on the UWS. For me, the neighborhood is like a graveyard with memories of so many old places lining Broadway. Some losses were devastating such as when Movie Place shut down. Others were sad, like the closure of Ivy’s Books. Each reminds me of the places from my childhood that closed decades ago: Mr. Blau who mended watches on 95th st, Babka’s, Barton’s, Golden’s, the little fruit and nut shop on 93rd street, the cramped used book/video shop on 94th. The barber shop with the big chairs and real pole on 106th st. Docs was once the old Irish bar Wilby’s . My French grandmother would go there for lambchops. In my high school days, you could get a screwdriver with fresh orange juice for $1.25. There was often the same trajectory, the stores would move to a smaller space on Broadway or Amsterdam, where the rents were cheaper, before finally closing down altogether.Mondel chocolates, the Hungarian Pastry Shop and Tom’s are almost the only places left.

So it was a relief this week when I saw Sal and Carmine’s was still there (on 102nd) and hadn’t closed over the summer. Opened in 1959 on 94th st (next to what is now Symphony Space) by two brothers, it has become an UWS institution. For many years, I thought it was the best pizza in NYC with its thin crust and sauce that was not overpowered by goopy cheese. Now I am not so sure. The slices are very salty and the crust seems to have become doughier. And they are famous for not budging on the question of canned mushroom. Not only do they refuse to put fresh mushrooms on their pizza but in a writeup of their pizzeria that hangs on the wall, they crossed out the line about the mushrooms being frozen!

Still, I enjoy talking to Sal (77)and Carmine (66). Their mother was from the south of Italy and their father lived in the US where his family farmed. Sometimes their mother made pizza from the wheat and tomatos grown by the family. They live in NJ and are talking about retiring soon and having their nephew take over. “But kids today are lazy. They only want to work six, seven hours and then go home. They don’t want to stay till closing,” Carmine complained to me recently.

In keeping with his old-time persona, Carmine reflected on how the neighborhood has changed. “There used to be so many trouble makers.” [The old store on 95th st] “was small so they could not sit around. They’d get their slice and then they’d go. And the police, they walked the streets. Now they just have radios.”

Tomoka, Addis Ababa

Tomoka
Winston Churchill Road
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Since I like old places and cafes, I really like the Tomoka coffee bar in Addis which is near the art-deco style neighborhood in the center of the city. According to the manager, it was first opened by an Italian family who had to flee once the Communist Dergue took over in 1974 and banned private property. No one is sure how the café passed into Ethiopian hands, the family sold or gave it to a friend, but sometimes relatives of the original owners come back to visit. As well as serving macchiatos, expresso and donuts, Tomoka exports coffee beans.

Akiko visits Boston and recommends an Italian restaurant

My foodie friend Akiko (she sent me some incredible honey last month) who lives in Tokyo just wrote in about an Italian restaurant she went to recently in Boston. I am almost certain that my friends Sof and PT took me there about 20 years ago and it was great

“Today, I would like to just let you know some restaurants we found in Boston and how nice they were.

First, Daily Catch, which is Italian Dining on Hanover Street at Little Italy in Boston, it takes several minutes from subway station Hey Market.
No Bathroom, No cafe and No dessert. But Pasta were awesome! Just Great!
The restaurant was filled with good fishy, just like fish market along the ocean.
Every dishes were just simple, but so wonderful!!!
When we looked for a restaurant to eat Italian food there, one local family called to us “If you are looking for dining, you can not go anywhere except for Daily Catch!”
Then we followed them and fount there. that was right! Very right!

After meal, because that restaurant had a long cue, we needed to leave there very soon.
Then again, that family told us that we should go to Modern Patry for dessert.
Actually one famous dessert shop was located just in front of the Daily Catch.
However, they did not recommended us.
We decided to go Modern Pastly, and orderd Lobster Tail, which they insisted us to have.
Lobster Tail were not in Show case, a kind of hidden menu.
Awesome Again!!! Just wonderful!!!
We ordered Tiramisu and Cafe Latte, and those were also wonderful!!!
Because it was not so hot day, we did not order gelato, looked very nice though.

Please see several pictures we took.
And please visit there, if you have not been there.
Pasta, Calamali, other dishes in Daily Catch and all desserts in Modern Pastly were just Italian! Not customized for American.
We had a wonderful time there!!!”

Definitive Guide to the Lake District

Since I’ve visited the Lake District about half a dozen times in the last couple of years, I think it’s time I share my recommendations. There is a lot of mediocre stodgy British food (which the locals do actually like) there but also some excellent places to eat. Grouped geographically, I would recommend the gastro pub Drunken Duck which is the famous spot near Ambleside. It has a dining room and a more casual bar area with sandwiches to go. I always dither about what I will eat and then wind up with the ham sandwich and regret that it’s on white bread but console myself with the wonderfully strong mustard. Jumble Room in the center of Grasmere is another must. It serves the kind of food I make at home only better, things like cous cous and fish and lots of vegetables. It’s a cozy place and gets a bit noisy in the evenings. It’s not usually crowded at lunchtime but it’s a good idea to book on the evenings. Near Troutbeck I love the Holbeck Ghyll hotel. It’s a great place to stay and has a Michelin star. Dinners are excellent–with lots of typically British ingredients–and I am partial to the afternoon tea which they serve in their chintzy lounge and includes things like fruitcake and shortbread. Perfect for those frequent afternoons when it’s too rainy to go walking. Also near picturesque Troutbeck is an aspiring gastropub Queen’s Head. We had a delicious meal recently. The people at the next table were tucking into a tempting fish pie. I had a salad and it was fine. In the area around Ullswater there is the expensive but luxurious Sharrow Bay Hotel which also has one of the finest kitchens in the Lake District. Make sure you get a seat in the front room with a view of the lake, not the back room with all the wood panelling. For lunch we always go to the Yanwath Gate which is on the way to Penrith. It’s another modern British pub with soups, fresh seafood and updates of classics like sausages and mash. I’ve never been disappointed there. Finally, there is the Yew Tree Farm near Coniston which was decorated by Beatrix Potter. They serve a really peculiar salad with everything you can imagine thrown in (a few kinds of meat, cheese, odd veggies) but the tea is fine. The main draw is that it’s served in a quirky little garden with orphaned lambs grazing at your feet. A couple of times a day they bring out baby bottles of milk and invite customers to feed the lambs. Parking is over the road and it’s a great stop on the way to Ruskin’s house which is worth visiting.

Istanbul

Things have really changed since my day when there were only three kinds of restaurants in Istanbul (fish, meat–which included fantastic kebabs and lachmacuns and steam table which was mostly the “olive oil dishes” with lots of overcooked veg) and it felt like we were always eating the three same fish (bluefish is the one I remember) and loads of eggplant. The year I spent living in Istanbul was one of the happiest I have had. It’s an extraordinary city and I loved exploring it but I didn’t have close Turkish friends and so if I wanted Turkish food I had to eat in restaurants and that’s never the same as going to peoples’ homes. It was good but repetitive. Now there is everything including a new branch of Hakkasan the delicious dim sum place in London. I took Nicole for lunch and it was empty and the food was great. When I lived in Istanbul, Chinese and Japanese food was practically nonexistent. There was one sad Chinese restaurant near Taksim where Aliza would go when she needed her fix before going to get baklava at a place on the square. As well as the Cicek Pasaj, there were lovely old sweet shops where Caroline and I would stop in after seeing a movie on Istiklal Cad. This time around her foodie husband, Andy, took me to a five-story one run by the mayor which even serves the traditional chicken breast desert. Having recently read a book on the Medicis, I think in fact this Turkish sweet is a relation to blancmange which I believe was also made with chicken breast and crushed almonds. BTW, Andy explained that walnut baklava is the traditional Istanbul one.

I digress. Here are suggestions for people visiting Istanbul and want to know where to eat: I used to spend a lot of time in Ortakoy which was a small village on the Bosphorus. It’s now more crowded and has a large crafts market on the weekend but I still enjoy the the cafes on the water. Several are open for breakfast. I have been going to Cinarlti for 20 years and this time also tried The House Cafe which has branches around the city and does big salads. It’s noisy at night and a little chi chi and pricey. Going to a fish restaurant on the Bosphorus is a beautiful way to spend an evening and there are many to choose from. Two options are Vira Vira in Arnavutkoy or Angel Blue which has two branches, one in Asia and one in Europe. My fave kebab place is Tike. I know it’s an obvious choice but I always go to the branch in Levent and sit in the garden. This is a tiny list that doesn’t begin to cover the dozens of great places there are to eat. I am writing a story now on the MuzedeChanga which is the branch of the trendy fusion restaurant, Changa, in the gorgeous Sabanci museum in Emirgan. If you want more detailed advice just email me and I will consult with Andy who is really the guru of Istanbul dining and writes regularly on the subject. The week I was there he was reviewing the new Jean-Georges restaurant and had just taken Gael Greene out for dinner.

Andy sent us a bit more info about about the places he took us to:

“The first is a low-key Armenian restaurant called Mekan which is just off Istiklal (aka Beyoglu) the street where the sweet shop is. That was called Saray and it is part of a chain (there is a place called Süt-iş nearer Taksim that has the same sort of fare.

I can’t find Mekan’s address because the “mekan” means “place” and is almost impossible to Google – however, coming from Taksim Sq you walk past the intersection where Galatasaray school is for another two? blocks. It is on the left down a pedestrian street made of steps but just one flight down from the main road. I think it is called Eski Cicekci Sokak (old flower markets street) It is the street before Nur-i-Ziya which has a Ziraat Bank on the corner.

However, it is not unique there is a place we like to go which is quiet and serves the same sort of food called Karakoy Lokantasi which is opposite the Passenger Ferry station; the prices are reasonable by expensive Istanbul standards. We go for dinner but it serves different food for lunch.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9158601

Port de la Selva

There are a few places in Port de la Selva that we really like. For starters, the bunuelos (sort of like a donut without the hole) at the pastry shop Quers are very moreish. They taste like fennel and are irresistible. Best to arrive early before they sell out. The icecream place with a little sign that says Jijonenca is the best around. It’s not actually part of the franchise. The icecream is made by the owner. Turron is the best flavor and the horchata is pretty good too. It’s family run and off-season has unpredictable opening hours. For seafood and big Spanish lunches our friend Ossito (the locally renowned butifarra champion) likes Can Mariner and his girlfriend Ana likes Paquita’s .

Ana says that the bunuelos are called brunoles in Catalan and are a specialty of Alt Emporda. For more information look at Brunyols de l’emporda on www.dolcacatalunya.cat