Reid & Robie

Tapas is a celebration of life.

– Jose Andrés

To many, Granada is the epicenter of Spain’s tapas culture. After all, who doesn’t love a city devoted to serving free snacks with every beer or glass of wine. Others point to San Sebastian’s maze of medieval streets lined with bars selling pintxos, the Basque word for a meal made of small plates.

Across Spain, tapas are as different as the regions that serve them. Think spinach and chickpeas in Andalucía, tomato bread in Catalonia, octopus in Galicia, sweet red peppers stuffed with cod in Navarre and skewered olives and anchovies in Basque Country.

In the heart of the Rioja wine region, tucked between Pamplona and Burgos, the town of Logroño has long been overshadowed by its larger, more famous neighbors. Yet in the town of 150,000, Robie and I discovered a rich tapas culture, one that wasn’t based on ingredients but on location. What made Logroño tapas unique was the daily convergence of locals to a single, small pedestrian alley known as La Laurel.

On Calle del Laurel more than 50 different bars and restaurants come alive at noon. With few places to sit, customers stand at the bar or around outdoor tables pairing bites with a corto (small beer) or Rioja wine for a high-energy, social lunch. By 4 p.m. the street is abandoned. All that remains are the napkins clinging to cobblestones since like all of Spain, La Laurel’s restaurants shutter for siesta. When they reopen in the evening, they stay busy until midnight.

In La Laurel, every bar has a specialty. At Entretapas 941, we loved the eight tapas with bottle of Crianza deal. We enjoyed focaccia with anchovy mousse topped with more anchovy, dug into a brioche roll with oxtail, grilled shishito peppers, a bao bun filled with crab and thick-sliced Nueces bacon.

Next, we tried calamari on brioche drizzled with squid ink, scallops covered in bechamel sauce, white fish with peppers in oil, three kinds of croquettes and a tuna salad made with more anchovies. But the most stunning thing we ate at Entretapas was a dish of mushrooms truffle butter with a raw egg yoke topped with potato straws. It didn’t look like much, but the combination of creamy, crispy textures, runny yoke and salty, earthy flavors was an umami bomb.

With Bar La Senda specializing in egg dishes, we dove into scrambled eggs with chorizo and cheese in brioche, an English muffin piled high with eggs and serrano ham and Spain’s beloved tortilla made with potato, onion and egg. We also tried a serrano ham sandwich, mussels in tomato sauce and the quintessential Basque tapa, gilda.

We found veggies the focus at Pasión Por Ti, ordering layered ratatouille with cod and sauteed artichokes with jamón. Because it wouldn’t be Spain if vegetables didn’t get a little sprinkling of ham.