Last weekend as 58-mile-per-hour winds* whipped off the Bay of Biscay, lashing La Concha Promenade, officials canceled the Zurich Maratón San Sebastián, the second oldest marathon in Spain.
Presumably it had no effect on the oldest marathon in Spain, the nightly wine- and pintxo-fueled bar crawl through San Sebastián’s old town.
Jeremy Leven ran this very race repeatedly over a month last spring, eating as many bite-size, Basque-style tapas as possible—skewered and otherwise—while training for a marathon of another kind.
In many ways the chef, who’s cooked at mfk. and Mama Delia—among countless other spots over the last 12 years and change—has always seemed destined to open Gilda, his forthcoming brick-and-mortar take on northern Spanish tavern culture.
When he announced his intentions a little over a month ago, I pounced, which is why he’s offering the first taste of Gilda this December 2 at the next Monday Night Foodball, the “Txicago” Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Frank and Mary’s Tavern.
That too seems preordained. Leven got his start doing pop-ups, long before anybody called them pop-ups. As he pointed out, it’s fitting to hold the first of a series of previews at Avondale’s half-century-old tavern. To that end, he and former Boka Restaurant Group baker Alexander Roman are prepping a staggering 11 bites for this event, headlined by the (supposedly) original pintxo, named for Rita Hayworth’s femme fatale in the 1946 film noir.
Leven says they will offer the classic gilda—anchovy, pickled piparra pepper, and olive speared on a toothpick—but also promises to riff on it with different conservas and pickles, and maybe some chorizo and mahon in the stacks.
They’re also stuffing, curing, and cider-braising their own chistorra sausages for “a Basque fever dream of the Chicago dog,” with cider mustard, neon-green tomato relish, and piparas.
There will be Iberico jamón mounted atop fresh, yeasted donuts with fermented citrus-honey glaze; and blistered shishitos with Marcona almonds and koji crema, flexing the fermentation muscles he built during a 15-week commis stint at René Redzepi’s Noma in Copenhagen.
Roman’s working on his own crackly cristal bread to bed a tomato conserva cooked down with pimentón oil, garlic, and bay leaf, along with boquerones: crostini topped with tomato, Cantabrian anchovy, and sweet pepper.
There are tributes on the menu too: flash-fried, crispy prawn heads with chili crisp mounted in a pool of white gazpacho “facing the heavens” (an homage to a polarizing, but awesome dish from the old mfk. days). There’s also a nod to F&MT jefe Tony Mata’s infamous 3 Little Piggy sandwich: grilled secreto, jamón, and spreadable sobrassada on brioche.
Other unique jams on Basque classics include an uni version of the deviled crab tartlet txangurro; and a mash-up of the tortilla española and the jiggly Japanese octopus balls takoyaki.
At the finish line, Leven’s compressing Michigan apples with Michigan cider, and dressing them simply with good olive oil and sea salt. And he’s also enlisted Kimia Khalvati of Lil Baddies bakery, coming in with a selection of her bite-size cakes.
Come in from the wind, and check out Gilda before it becomes a standing room only brick and mortar. The pintxos start running out of Mary’s kitchen at 6 PM until sellout this Monday, December 2, at 2905 N. Elston in Avondale.
Meanwhile scroll down for the full Foodball schedule below.
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