The restaurant Juanito Kojua sits in the center of the Parte Vieja of San Sebastian, at the heart of the culinary city. Since 1947, the menu has featured traditional Basque cuisine, specializing in fresh seafood and a seasonal menu. You'll find Donostia-style crab, grilled Bay of Biscay lobster, and Basque-style hake loin. If you find yourself in San Sebastian and want to experience a meal of good, fresh ingredients in a warm setting, this is the place for you.
We were privileged to be invited into the restaurant to take a look at the kitchen just prior to the afternoon rush. Below, you'll find photographic evidence of this visit.
Chef in the kitchen.
Andy & A.J. Weiss.
Restaurante Juanito Kojua, Portu Kalea, 14, 20003 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain.
Spanish conservas, seafood conservas in particular, has been featured recently in the Wall Street Journal and New York Magazine. Conservas are foods preserved in cans or jars, a tradition in Spain that utilizes top-quality ingredients to create delicacies unlike what Americans have come to expect from typical canned products found on grocery store shelves.
Conservas includes all preserved foods, such as olives, piquillo peppers, white asparagus, as well as the seafood (Cantabrian anchovies, Bonito del Norte tuna, mussels in escabeche, octopus in olive oil, etc.) mentioned in the articles. The benefit, to restaurants and home chefs alike, of these tinned products is that the high-quality comes with little to no preparation. Just open a tin and serve, perhaps with a few slices of bread or potato chips, and you'll be offering guests the traditional Spanish presentation.
Recently, Donostia Foods seafood conservas was featured on the James Beard award-winning The Feed Podcast with chef Rick Bayless and food journalist Steve Dolinsky. While sampling the sardines, Steve says, “Oh wow. That’s really good. That reminds me of Spain. It’s a rich sardine. Not heavily salted like a lot of times preserved stuff in America… this is a really high quality sardine.” For the jarred Bonito del Norte tuna, Rick adds, "This stuff is super special... When you hear about olive oil or butter poached fish, basically that's what we have in the jar here."
Donostia Foods offers a full line of top-quality Spanish conservas at affordable prices, delivered straight to your door. Delicacies are best when you can buy enough to share with friends and still have money left for wine.
Order all of the above, right here, at donostiafoods.com.
In The Home Cook's Guide of New York Magazine Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite offer an "A-to-Z guide of 50 of today’s most influential and culture-defining foodstuffs — things you’ll find as frequently on pioneering menus as on specialty-store shelves".
In the comprehensive list you'll find three such foodstuffs available from Donostia Foods: Cantabrian anchovies, Bonito del Norte tuna, and octopus in olive oil, all at a far more reasonable price, for the same top-quality, as the brands suggested in the article.
"Anchovies That Eat Like the Prosciutto of the Sea". Like the anchovies mentioned, Donostia Foods anchovies are not what you'll find on supermarket shelves. Hand filleted and packed in olive oil from fish caught in the Bay of Biscay in April, May, and June. For more than $5 less per jar when you buy six compared to the brand listed.
"Octopus From a Portuguese Canning Master". While Donostia Foods octopus in olive oil comes from the neighboring Galicia region of Spain, you'll find similar high-quality olive oil, flavor and unrubbery texture. The brand listed in the article goes for an astounding $27 per tin. Enjoy more and share with friends with Donostia Foods: $7.91 per tin when you buy six.
"Tuna That’s Too Good for Sandwiches". Donostia Foods Bonito del Norte Tuna are loins from line-caught fish from the Cantabrian Sea, just like the tuna featured. Granted, not ventresca (belly) cut, but you'll find "the ultimate tinned fish, silky and succulent, and ready to flake at the touch of a fork" just the same. It's one of our most popular products and you'll save 50% per ounce compared to other brands.
Boquerones (white anchovies in vinegar) and bonito tuna salad pintxo in Donostia-San Sebastian. We'll have a limited supply of boquerones available in the States sometime next year so you can experience just how delicious they are yourself.
Steve Dolinsky and Rick Bayless discuss Donostia Foods and Spanish canned seafood. Photo courtesy of The Feed Podcast.
Donostia Foods is featured on The Feed Podcast from Chef Rick Bayless and 13-time James Beard award-winning food journalist Steve Dolinsky.
In this episode of the 2015 James Beard Foundation winner for best podcast, Steve visits Barcelona to sample Catalonian cuisine, specifically superb seafood, accompanied by El Mundo food writer Xavier Agullo. Back in the studio, Rick and Steve sample Donostia Foods sardines, octopus, and Bonito del Norte tuna (begins at the 11:00 mark) for a taste of Spain here at home.
As Rick says, "People really need to get into this, canned seafood from Spain.” Listen to the full episode below.
For additional photographs and more episodes, visit thefeedpodcast.com.
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Total Time: 10 minutes. About 6-8 servings.
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, coat the almonds in oil and espelette. Toast for 8-10 minutes, tossing occasionally.
2. Eat warmed or cool.
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Total Time: 12 minutes. Serving size is up to you.
1. Lightly toast hazelnuts in the oven. Once cooled, dice apples and toss all ingredients together.
2. That's all.
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Bonito del Norte tuna melt sandwiches, pintxo-style. Or, sliders. Or, baby bocadillos (kind of, the bread isn't sliced in the proper length-wise fashion to be deemed a bocadillo). Regardless of what you call these small bites, they turned out fairly well as most things do when they include melted cheese. Bonito tuna, piquillo peppers, Basque sheep's milk cheese, pan-fried guindilla peppers.
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