Can Ravell in Barcelona

Can Ravell in Barcelona

SARAH WILDMAN
Published: July 19, 2009
Blocks from La Sagrada Família, and a few doors down from a mercado of decidedly quotidian businesses, one tiny epicurean paradise has upheld a lofty gastronomic ideal for 80 years. Can Ravell (“Can” means “Casa” in Catalan) is perhaps the most glorious of delicatessens in a city that knows exactly how it likes its ham and high-end foodstuffs.

Founded in 1929, the shop managed to withstand the brutal vicissitudes of Spanish mid-20th-century politics on the assumption that there would always be a population that wanted the best of everything.

Run today by Joseph Ravell, son of the deli’s founder, Ignasi Ravell, Can Ravell continues to enchant, not only with the hams the chef hand-selects in Jabugo and Guijuelo and the vast wine cellar boasting the finest domestic and international vintage, but with its upstairs secret.

Discerning diners push through the crowded anteroom, chock-full of jams and mustards and French cheeses, past counters where jamón serrano is thinly sliced and picnic-ready meals are prepared, and head to a spiral staircase in the back.

Above the bustle of the grocery, they find themselves in a bourgeois fantasy: a large room of long marble tables for diners to share; floor-to-ceiling French doors; business people chatting in twos and threes. Shelves are stocked with a full complement of whiskeys.

The second-floor restaurant, which can be rented for private parties at night, is unexpectedly luminous and airy, a relief from the crowded shop below. None of the diners seems in a hurry; a meal encompasses a full two hours.

Though Can Ravell’s Web site lists dozens of dishes on an ever-changing menu, waiters offer only four choices per course — the chef chooses the plates each day.

This is high-end Spanish and Catalan comfort food. Salmorejo — a heartier cousin of gazpacho — is served with a choice of jamón ibérico or lobster topped with a poached egg (12 or 15 euros, $16.75 or $21 at $1.42 to the euro).

Seasonal ingredients are celebrated accordingly. Summer brings fresh beans, with sausage or lobster, and tomatoes, in a salad with hunks of tuna and onion.

Peas, mushrooms or asparagus take over at other times, each plate abandoned when the vegetable is no longer freshest. Foie is plentiful; pork dominates but is not alone: rich plates of duck breast, above, make an appearance, as do freshly caught fish and other seafood. Light this meal is not. Lunch for two is about 120 euros, depending on wine.

In a city known for dining, it’s often hard to impress. Can Ravell might just be the perfect answer for the weary foodie.

Can Ravell, Carrer Aragó 313, Barcelona; 93-457-51-14, www.ravell.com.

Origin information: The New York Times