“I’m in heaven for a second time.”

Man oh man, our restaurant luck has been unbroken every time we’ve ventured out on this trip. Normally, you win some and some are average and rarely you do get an actual dud, but an unblemished record of excellent first-time visits is unusual and we did it again tonight.

On the way back from our promenade around El Palacio Real this morning, we read a few menus along Calle Arenal. There were some new ones, and a couple we’d patronized in the past, but one in particular caught our eyes, Café Nicasio, a “traditional restaurant serving Madrid-style food.” There are a lot of joints that claim the same thing, and we’ve eaten at a few of them. Some are low-key like El Madroño where we ate last night – a place that does cater to tourists, but could just as easily be a neighborhood hang-out. Then there are places that are totally touristy – it’s hard to discern which is which in this part of the city where high-powered tourism exists side by side with regular residents.
On the way back from our promenade around El Palacio Real this morning, we read a few menus along Calle Arenal. There were some new ones, and a couple we’d patronized in the past, but one in particular caught our eyes, Café Nicasio, a “traditional restaurant serving Madrid-style food.” There are a lot of joints that claim the same thing, and we’ve eaten at a few of them. Some are low-key like El Madroño where we ate last night – a place that does cater to tourists, but could just as easily be a neighborhood hang-out. Then there are places that are totally touristy – it’s hard to discern which is which in this part of the city where high-powered tourism exists side by side with regular residents.

The menu had one item that I had to have – Conejo al Ajillo – Rabbit with Garlic. There were enough other things on the menu that assured me that MLW would not starve so we a mental note to come back, and went about our day.

One of the deciding factors when we research a place is the opening time. Spanish eating culture is famous for being centered around dining late. It has to do a lot with the fact that Spain is in the wrong timezone, an artifact from the time when Franco was sucking up to his fellow Fascist, Hitler, and aligned the time in Madrid with the time in Berlin. If Madrid was set at the right time, people wouldn’t be waiting until 9 PM to go out. On our very first trips here, 15 years ago, we were embarrassingly often the first people in a restaurant at 7 PM. Over the years, that has changed, and if you want a seat in a popular place today, the restaurant will be full by 7:30. So when I find a place that doesn’t open until 8:30, we don’t even consider it, it’s too late for dinner. Thankfully Café Nicasio opened at 7.

Their website kind of cracked me up, “Grandpa Nicasio always said: -Whoever has a good garden will live 100 years!-. And this man of simple life in the Jarama Basin had a great knowledge of the countryside and the orchard.” I mean, who wouldn’t want to eat there?

At 7:30 we hit the bricks and made our way down to Calle Arenal. Despite the sunny afternoon, it was cold and getting colder with a stiff breeze in our faces. We turned right and went down the hill and gratefully that took us out of the breeze. We arrived, got a table, and settled in. I ordered the rabbit, and MLW opted for diced tenderloin in a Jerez Sherry sauce. The waiter brought us some bread that was so cold we joked that it was kept outside. He also provided a nice little bowl of Spanish olives. We ordered wine – a Rioja and a Rueda – and both were tasty.

Dinner arrived, mine was big chunks of bone-in rabbit pieces swimming in a wonderful garlic sauce, and her dish was tender pieces of tenderloin beef in a sweet sherry sauce served with a handful of green Guernica peppers. Both came with a generous supply of thickly sliced fried potatoes, a common Spanish side dish. The most amazing thing – those little chunks of beef were cooked to perfection and fork tender.

As we enjoyed our meal, we noticed that the people at the table next to us were absolutely entranced by the cooking program that was being displayed on a big-screen TV at the back of the restaurant. Some chef was preparing several different types of paella, one after another. Three of the four people at that table had stopped talking to each other and had stopped eating, to turn around in their seats to watch the show. Now we’ve cooked paella, and it’s fun to do, but it’s not nearly so interesting as to take a group of 50/60-somethings and them into zombies at the dinner table. And yet there they were. Eventually, the paellas were cooked and the program switched to a desert and they went back to their dinner.

Dinner done, MLW noticed that the dessert menu had Ponche on it, my favorite among all the Spanish desserts. I’d been a bit depressed since we discovered that the pastry shop in Mercado San Miguel had closed and that my reliable source of Ponche was thus gone. I ordered a piece, we shared it, and I found myself back in heaven staring down at the world below. When the waiter came with the check I told him that I make Ponche at home, he said, “You mean she makes it,” and I said, “No, I do.” Then I told him that theirs was much better than mine and he grinned from ear to ear. Another great dinner made even better by it being a complete surprise.

Back out in the street, freezing a bit, it was thankfully a short promenade home. We purposely walked past San Gines, the famous chocolate and churros place that all the guidebooks tout. Not surprisingly it was packed – tourists actually read those books and follow their advice. Even we stopped in there in the past. And not surprisingly, it wasn’t as good as the places we found later.

Day done, tomorrow the Royal Gardens if the weather holds.