A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines

by Anthony Bourdain

People kept refilling my cider glass and handing me glasses of txakaoli, a sort of greenish white wine similar to vino verde.

love

Which is where I was, sipping from a magnum of Krug in the kitchen of Arzak, a family-run temple of Nouvelle Basque on the outskirts of San Sebastián,

I was drunk. I was happy. If not the perfect meal, this was, in many ways, a perfect one. Good food, good company, exotic ambience, and an element of adventure.

yes

old copies of Food Arts, Restaurant Hospitality, faxed résumés, equipment manuals, stashes of saffron and truffle oil –