Tuesday, April 20. Warning Lights. Madrid. When you have any mechanical repair done to your car, the renewed function of the repaired part of the engine can jolt other components into failing. That's what mechanics say, anyway, when their customers return right after a repair with a new problem. It's tempting to think that something else was intentionally messed with while the car was in the shop, to drum up further business.
Two days after the timing belt on my PT Cruiser was fixed, two warning lights illuminated my dashboard. Not only that, but my brake lights stopped coming on when I put my foot on the pedal. (The three policemen who each pulled me over on my way home tonight told me that. Amazingly, I wasn't hauled off to jail.) And the window on the driver's door won't roll down.
I especially curse that last one. Why can't you get a car with a manual crank for the windows? I never had a problem with any of those. The automatic ones broke sooner or later on every car of mine that had them. (I'm starting to sound like a crank, myself.)
Fortunately, I will have a car to drive while the Cruiser is in the shop again. The Marys are taking three days off school and work to fly to Savannah, there to check out an arts college that Mary Leigh is considering attending, now that her Los Angeles plan is in the dumper. I think Mary Leigh intentionally left for the airport in her Audi, so I wouldn't be able to drive it.
Dinner at Madrid. It was my second pass there. Like the first one, the food was astonishingly good, and there was a ventilation problem. Last time, for better illumination, I dined at one of the tables adjacent to the kitchen, but picked a table next to a door with imperfect insulation--on a cold, windy night, with the door facing north. Tonight, the air conditioning was out in the main dining room. Fortunately, this was one of the pleasant, cool spring evenings we've had lately, so there was no real discomfort, other than a lack of wine. (Which is enough to make me whine.) Madrid has no liquor license--probably owing to the strange New Orleans law that attaches the license to the building, not to the business in it.
Enough complaining. This was a spectacular dinner, as the first one was. I asked the waitress (clearly a member of the family) whether to get the tortilla or the stuffed mushrooms. This was a trick question. "Tortilla" is not listed on the menu, to avoid confusing customers who don't know that in Spain, a tortilla is a thick omelette, usually made with potatoes. But the waitress knew exactly what I was talking about, and heartily recommended the tortilla.
I'm glad she did. Although this was easily big enough to split, I wound up eating nearly all of it. The look, aroma, texture, and flavor were everything one could want from this. Everything in balance, helped along by some onions, peppers, and a little ham. An essential dish if ever I ate one. It is to Madrid what char-broiled oysters are to Drago's.
My only negative thought about the paella combination that followed was that it was impossible to finish even half of it. Blame that on the tortilla. And the very good bread Chef Juan Hernandez puts on the table. With herbal butter, yet. Even without all that, the paella alone was a big eat. And I had the serving for one. The menu also offers it for two.
Mussels, clams, shrimp (big ones, right on top), fish, squid, chicken, chorizo, Serrano ham, peas. Saffron. Rice, a but firmer than is classically found in paella--but I like it this way. Fantastic. There may be an equal to Juan's paella--Café Granada, Galvez, Lola's maybe--but there's none better.
I've already found the great dessert here: the perfect orange flan. I was touted on a "Spanish cheesecake," very light, with the texture of a crustless creme brulee. It was covered with walnuts, which gave the thing a marvelous mouthfeel, contrasting crunchy with creamy.
I must remember to bring a bottle of wine with me next time I come. I will try to make it on a day other than Tuesday, when they're obviously not very busy.
Madrid. Lakeview: 300 Harrison Ave. 504-482-2757. Spanish.
