{"id":23500,"date":"2017-05-23T15:39:48","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T19:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/?p=23500"},"modified":"2017-05-24T14:49:23","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T18:49:23","slug":"tasting-spain-in-pittsburgh-at-morcilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2017\/05\/23\/tasting-spain-in-pittsburgh-at-morcilla\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasting Spain in Pittsburgh at Morcilla"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it came time to decide on a venue for a group dinner during the recent Nebula Awards weekend, one restaurant stood out above all others—Morcilla<\/a>, which had been named the best new restaurant in Pittsburgh by Pittsburgh magazine<\/a> and last year’s #4 best new restaurant in the country by Bon Appetit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And I wasn’t alone in that conclusion—for when I reached out to agent extraondinaire Barry Goldblatt<\/a> about whether he wanted to join me, he said Morcilla was on his radar as well.<\/p>\n

Which is how I ended up there Friday night at a table with, as they say, more stars than there are in Heaven, including Christopher Barzak<\/a>, Bo Bolander<\/a>, Joe<\/a> and Gay Haldeman<\/a>, and Fran Wilde<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We didn’t quite eat the entire menu—but we came close!<\/p>\n

Bay View oysters
\n(with ramp mignonette)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Potato chip and boquerones
\n(vadouvan curry)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Queso et aceite
\n(manchego, Seville sour orange, olive oil, roasted garlic)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Charcuteria
\n(all of the meats)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Beef tartare
\n(vegetable escabeche, cured egg yolk, roasted garlic aioli)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Octopus a la plancha
\n(sesame yogurt, crispy pickled chickpeas, merguez spice, cucumber, dill) <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Esparragos a la plancha
\n(asparagus, manchego, pickled ramp, preserved lemon, fried egg)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bacalao
\n(salt cod, espelette, lemon- honey)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tortilla espanola
\n(ham, smoked olive, piquillo pepper)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pork belly a la plancha
\n(white bean, fris\u00e9e, pancetta-mustard vinaigrette, tarragon-pickled shallot) <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Scallops a la plancha
\n(brioche soubise, gribiche) <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Champinones a la plancha
\n(beech, maitake, and oyster mushrooms, egg yolk, shallot)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cochinillo
\n(crispy skin suckling pork roast, romesco, piperade, salsa verde, cauliflower Catalan) <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Oxtail montadito
\n(caramelized onion, Mahon cheese)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Morcilla sausage
\n(chestnut, brown butter, parsnip, Tempranillo, parsley)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Patatas bravas
\n(crispy smoked fingerling potatoes, spicy pimento aioli)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, two members of our party missed the last few courses because they were Nebula finalists, which forced them to leave early so they could receive their nominee certificates (is that a humble brag?) …<\/p>\n

… but fortunately, the Nebula Awards weekend will once again be handed out in Pittsburgh next year, so they’ll have another chance to experience Morcilla’s amazing food, welcoming service, and warm hospitality.<\/p>\n

I know I’ll be back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it came time to decide on a venue for a group dinner during the recent Nebula Awards weekend, one restaurant stood out above all others—Morcilla, which had been named the best new restaurant in Pittsburgh by Pittsburgh magazine and last year’s #4 best new restaurant in the country by Bon Appetit. And I wasn’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[49,800,14,801],"class_list":["post-23500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-food","tag-morcilla","tag-nebula-awards","tag-pittsburgh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23500"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23528,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23500\/revisions\/23528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}