Tom's Barcelona Bites
My friend Tom is on his way to Barcelona, so of course he asked me where he should eat. I've never been to Barcelona (a shocking admission for a foodie), so I immediately called Jeff Steingarten, who's eaten everywhere. Alexander Lobrano has a pretty comprehensive take on Barcelona food on Epicurious. Generally I find Lobrano, who has lived in Paris for almost twenty years, to be pretty reliable if a little snooty. Time Out Barcelona also devotes a fair amount of space to food, but in general I find Time Out's writers all over the world to be inexperienced and not as knowledgeable as they should be. Steingarten just called, and as he doesn't have an assistant he can't find the piece in Vogue he wrote on Barcelona restaurants. But a lovely woman at Vogue named Phyllis Rifield graciously faxed me the article, which is from August of 2002. Steingarten told me on the phone that Cal Pep (Placa de las Olles 8 (93-310-79-61) is the one place you must go (get there early, he says, or be prepared to wait quite a while for a table). Other Tapas spots Steingarten likes are Estrella De Plata (Placa de Palau 13 (93-268-06-35), Cata 181, Valencia 181 (93-323-68-18), Santa Maria, Comerc 17, (93-315-12-27), and El Xampanyet, Montcada 22 (93-319-70-03). I'm jealous, Tom. I want a full report.
(1998) is worth seeking out, as is Fred Plotkin's 
. Both books are dated but still useful. When you add all of this info up we may be, in my son's words, getting into 511 (too much information) territory, but I'd rather err on the side of too much info rather than too little.