American in Spain

Los Champis

January 23, 2007

We went to Mondragon this past weekend to arrange some wedding details. We didn't actually accomplish anything, but we are slightly more informed about photographers and priests. On Sunday, we went to a bar that specializes in grilled mushrooms, or "champiñones" in Spanish. At the bar, you order a few drinks and some orders of mushrooms ("champis"). The bartender shouts just the number (e.g. "cuatro!") back towards the kitchen. The kitchen doesn't need to know what you want four of, because it's only preparing one item.

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I took this picture from the bar. The bartender saw me and said, "What are you doing?" I thought, "Uh oh, he's upset." I said, "It's just such a beautiful sight...all those mushrooms on the grill." He said, "Well, then come around behind the bar and take a proper picture!"

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They do a nice job of rotating the grills to always have freshly cooked mushrooms.

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Juan delivers a full plate to the table. He sure is a fungi! (sorry, had to)

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Marga's happy!

The previous times I've been to this bar, we've ordered one wine and one order (a piece of bread and a stack of 'shrooms on a toothpick) of mushrooms per person. But this time, Grandpa Ramón felt like ordering 18 orders of mushrooms for the eight of us. I delightfully volunteered to be one of the people to eat three. They're fantastic!